Judgment
by Ludwikia
Summary: Sonic, Amy, and Tails decied to take a little vacation due to lack of anything better to do. An ancient bulding is found, trigger a chain of events that nearly destroys the plant.
1. Chapter 1

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Judgment

_Quite some time had passed since the last battle with…well…anyone. Sonic, Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, Knuckles, and the rest of them had been left with nothing to do in the field of fighting. Amy proposed that they go on vacation. _

_Knuckles was, of course, too busy guarding the Master Emerald. Charmy, Vector, and Espio were too busy dealing with the duties of the Chaotics. Shadow had disappeared._

_However, Tails liked the idea, wanting to take some time off to relax and improve on the X-Tornado (as if he hadn't been doing that already). Sonic had a different opinion on matter, not wanting to leave civilization. He was still sure that Eggman was going to attack at any moment, despite the fact that Tails had him under surveillance and would be aware of any new plot as soon as it happened._

_In the end, of course, Sonic lost. He had little choice but to go with Amy and Tails(thanks in no small part to Amy, who told Sonic that it was either relaxation or hammer)._

"WOW!!" exclaimed Tails with a somewhat childish joy, as he looked at the massive structure before him.

"Well well well, this is different," responded Sonic, seemingly impressed with structure. Amy remained silent, also gazing at the building.

The building in question was an ancient coliseum that had been found fairly recently. It rose four stories above the ground, with an unknown number of underground floors. The walls were made of gray stone which was crumbling from the untold number of years of environmental abuse. One part of the outer wall had collapsed, reviling the interior of the coliseum, which was not in the best of conditions.

It was completely abandoned.

"Whad'a say, little buddy? Wana go inside and have a look around?"

"Yea!" responded Tails.

The trio made their way to the entrance, and proceeded inside. Tails was obviously enjoying himself as he looked around, thinking.

"Well, what are you doing here?" asked a very familiar voice. Tails didn't hear the voice, too busy gazing out into the arena. Amy and Sonic both turned to face the speaker, Amy drawing her hammer. When she saw who it was, she quickly put it back.

"SHADOW!!" she yelled happily, nearly tackling him. He sidestepped her, letting her fall to the floor. "Jerk," she muttered under her breath.

"We could ask you the sa-" started Sonic.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINING!? YOU JUST DISSAPREADED WITHOUT TELLING US ANYTHING!! AND AS SOON AS YOU SHOW UP AGAIN, THE ONLY THING YOU CAN SAY IS 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE'!!" Shadow looked rather amused by this. Giving no response to Amy, he turned to Sonic.

"I was drawn here by my Chaos Emerald. It started to react strangely when I came by here, so I decided to check it out. You?" Amy's expression went from mad to madder. She was not going to be ignored. She drew her hammer again, and prepared to swing it between the two hedgehogs. Tails had taken notice of Shadow's presence, but said nothing, being more interested in the readings being given off by his computer.

As Amy swung her hammer, Shadow and Sonic both backed away a little. She was gripping at both Sonic and Shadow. Tails' turned white, looking at his computer. The argument, or fight, depending on which way it was viewed, slowly grew less and less apparent as Tails stared at the computer, his eyes fixed on a particular readout. There was something moving below them, and was huge.

"Um…guys…" muttered the fox. Sonic, Amy, and Shadow all looked his way, Amy's hammer caught in Shadow's hand, just inches from his face.

"What's up?" asked Sonic.

"I…I don't really know." responded the fox.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" asked Amy, still slightly annoyed, though concern was forming in her voice.

"There is something below us, but I don't know what it is. It's moving…and it's really big." Shadow let go of Amy's hammer, causing her to once more fall to the ground, and walked over to Tails. He looked at the screen. His normally emotionless face faded away. It was replaced with an emotion that was between curiosity and worry. However, this was replaced by his normal expression.

"I know what that is. It's some kind of huge machined. I have no idea what it's used for." said Shadow, crossing his arms. Without saying a word, Sonic rushed off in a blur, returning before Amy's dress had time to settle back down.

"There are some stairs on the other side of the stadium." he told the others. It was already decided. They were going down below the stadium to look at the machine.

Shadow led the way, obviously knowing where he was going. He informed the others that he had been here for a few days exploring the inner workings of the coliseum.

As they got closer to the room that held the machine, Tails stopped, giving his watch a funny look.

"It's stopped working," he reported. But why? The battery couldn't be dead.

Shadow stopped, and turned to his left, and went down another flight of stairs. They were in terrible condition, and almost had to be jumped down. Another floor came into view, but Shadow ignored it, continuing down another flight. They were now four floors below the floor of the arena.

"Sonic, I'm scarred."

"Scared? Of what? What is there to be scared down here, Amy?"

"I don't know. Something just doesn't seem right." Amy grabbed Sonic's hand with both of hers, and continued to follow him.

Shadow walked into the room, looking up into the darkness. His eyes allowed him too see just fine. The others couldn't tell what was in there until Tails got out a flashlight. He turned it on, but it only stayed lit for a few seconds.

"What? Not you too." complained Tails, putting his flashlight back in his backpack, along with his computer.

Suddenly, the entire building shook. Above them, they could hear the sounds of the coliseum collapsing and crashing down.

"What the hell?" was all Shadow managed to ask before the roof caved in, nearly killing Sonic. They could now see somewhat. Sonic helped Amy and Tails up. Amy was bleeding a little from her head, just above her left eye. Tails seemed fine. "GET ON THE GROUND!!"

Sonic and Tails both dove to the ground, along with Shadow. Amy, however, remained standing. Looking up, she saw a huge creature that resembled a giant dragon, come through a wall.

The dragon, for that is what it was, was at least 70 feet long. It was about the same color as the green grass that was growing outside of the coliseum, but slightly darker. It had huge wings that looked to be made of leather, and several large spikes growing out of it's body.

It looked down into the pit that was once a room, and jumped down, looking for it's prey. Sonic pulled Amy down and under a large rock before getting ready to attack with Shadow. However, none of them had any idea just what the dragon's prey was.

As it came closer, Sonic flew out from his hiding place, and hit the dragon in the head with a spin attack seemed to have little effect. Shadow let out a massive Chaos blast that did considerably more damage than Sonic's spin attack, though it was not a fatal blow, or anything even close. The dragon hit Sonic with one of it's clawed feet. Shadow managed to avoid the attack meant for him, but only because Sonic had gotten in the way. Now, Sonic was trying to pull himself out of the rubble that he had landed in.

"Sonic!" Amy rushed out of her hiding place to go help her blue hero.

"Oh great," muttered Shadow. Now he would have to protect her to. _Stupid girl._

The dragon, however, had another agenda. Right as Shadow was getting ready to hit it, it turned it's head to some movement in one of the now exposed hallways. The dragon took the hit from Shadow, and hit him back with an almost casual movement of it's tail. The dragon dove into the hallway, tearing it up even more, chasing after who knew what. Shadow followed the dragons' movement, ignoring the blow from it. _What is it after?_

_Amy and Tails were looking at Sonic, trying to help him up. He had managed to pull himself up out of the rubble, but only managed to take a few steps before falling face first. He hadn't moved since then, obviously hurt fairly badly. Amy got down on her knees beside Sonic, trying not to panic._

"_Sonic…are you ok?" Her voice was filled with concern._

"_Amy," was all he whispered before passing out._

"_NO! SONIC! DON'T DIE!" Tails didn't seem as worried as she was, but worried none-the-less. As far as he could tell, nothing was broken. Amy didn't seem to care, however._

"_Shadow! Teleport us out of here! Sonic is hurt badly, and needs to go to the hospital." Shadow heard her words, and started over in her direction. A loud crashing sound could be heard, followed by what could have been an explosion. The sounds were getting closer now. _

_Shadow broke off into an all out run, trying to get over to the others. He didn't particularly want to help Sonic, but at the same time, he didn't want to leave them here. He heard Maria's words again. He heard his promise to help those in need._

"_Stupid faker," he muttered under his breath. But before he could make it there, he heard a wall shatter. _

_Tails looked up when he heard the wall shatter. Something came flying though the wall at a very high speed. It flew for a few seconds before hitting Shadow and knocking him over._

_Shadow looked up into the eyes of a very, very scary looking fox. The fox got up, turning to face the dragon as it came through the wall. The dragon let out a roar, and charged at the fox. Shadow moved to the side, getting ready to hit the dragon. _

"_You motherfucker," the fox said very softly, though he was breathing heavily. "DIE!!"_

_A white light blinded Shadow, Amy, and Tails. Sonic was knocked out. The fox seemed to be the source of the light. Suddenly, a massive explosion sent everyone flying into the walls. It was too bright to see anything, and the roar of the explosion was deafening. The shockwave from the explosion had knocked Amy and Tails out. Sonic's condition didn't change. _

_As the light dissipated, Shadow saw the fox standing in a crater, somewhat crouched over, breathing very heavily. It's head was facing the ground. The fox fell to his knees, then forward onto his hands. From there, it hit the ground._

_The dragon was no more._

_Shadow looked at the fox before passing out._

Authors note: Feel free to respond as you like. It's a work in progress.


	2. Chapter 2

Judgment 

Chapter 2

The suns rays streaked lazily across Tails' face. The young fox awakened, only to find himself pinned down by a heavy piece of stone. Quickly, the memories of what had happened came back to him. Struggling some, he managed to sit up and look around. Shadow was laying against the wall, asleep. Tails turned his head. Amy was laying a few yards away from Sonic. Amy only had some minor cuts and bruises, not counting the one below her right knee, which looked like it might get infected. Sonic was another story altogether.

Now that the sun was rising, Tails could see the extent of the damage done to Sonic a little better. The normally blue hedgehog was now covered in dried blood. His left arm was obviously broken, bending in four places instead of two. He needed medical attention ASAP. 

Tail's gaze drifted towards the center of the room. All he could see was something that vaguely resembled a crater.

"Man, this is bad. Sonic needs help, but there's nothing that I can do. Maybe I can get Shadow or Amy to wake up. SHADOW! AMY! WAKE UP! SONIC'S DYING!"

There was no response from Amy. Shadow, however, stirred, and soon opened his eyes. He got up and walked over to Tails to move the piece of stone off of him.

"Are you alright?" asked the black and crimson hedgehog with some actually concern in his voice, though he wasn't looking at Tails. His gaze was fixed on Sonic. 

"Shadow, will you teleport Sonic to a hospital. I…"the young fox was crying now, sure that unless he got help now, Sonic would die. "Unless you get him to help, he…he…he'll die!"

"Fine. I'll help the faker. But you owe me big time." "Thank you, Shadow. Thank you, thank you, thank-AAAAHHHHHH!!" Tails had tried to stand up, but his right leg buckled underneath him, sending the kit falling to the ground. Shadow stopped, and turned to look at the young fox._ Hell, he's only 9. What is he doing this for?_ "No, Shadow," cried Tails. "Sonic…help him."

Amy started to stir, but did little more. The fox lying near the center of the crater had been forgotten. Shadow gabbed Sonic's back.

"Stupid faker." were the last words Tails heard him say before uttering his signature phrase and disappearing. A few minutes after Shadow had left, Amy woke up. 

She looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. When her eyes turned to the place that Sonic should be, she squealed, and ran over to the stop. A look of terror was on her face. She inhaled deeply, and looked around. Seeing Tails, she came running over.

"Tails, are you ok? Where's Sonic and Shadow? What's going on? Is Sonic ok? Are you ok?" Despite the immense pain he was in, Tails looked up at Amy, and managed to sit up. Looking at his knee, he could see that it was badly swollen up.

"Amy…Sonic was in bad shape. I had Shadow take him to the hospital. I…I don't know it he…will live." A look of shock and disbelief spread across Amy's face. She fell to her knees, unaware of the pain she was feeling. At least, the physical pain. Her heart was on fire. Sonic…might die…no. She wouldn't accept it. "As for me, I don't really know." Amy reached out and took Tails' hand, trying to comfort him and herself. After a few minutes, the head a grunt and some rubble shifting. They turned their heads, and saw the other fox coming over a fairly large piece of rubble.

He was taller than any of them, having a good foot on Shadow. His fur was blacker than Shadows in most of the places that they could see. He did have red streaks over his body, very similar to Shadow. His clothes were badly torn and ruined. He dropped what used to be a trench coat on the ground, revealing a badly torn and somewhat blood black shirt underneath it. Though the shirt, they could tell he was very strong, having a solid looking body. The fox wore black pants that were no longer in very good condition, like the rest of his clothes. The only things that seemed to be intact where his boots.

The fox's eyes were incredible. They were red, like Shadows, but somehow, much more interesting and attractive. His fur on his head was filled with clotted blood.

The last thing Amy and Tails noticed about this mysterious fox was his tails.

He had two of them, both black with red tips.

Tails' jaw dropped.

"What tha…you have two tails!? I thought I was the only one!" exclaimed Tails, some what excited for a reason that was obviously very unknown by the other fox. He just looked at Tails, breathing slowly, as if he were in a lot of pain. 

"Are you hurt?" asked Amy, wondering about her and Tails' safety more than the condition of the other fox, though she was a bit interested.

The fox looked at her, saying nothing. Amy thought that he might be getting ready to attack. Without thinking she put herself between the Tails and the other fox, ready for whatever might happen.

Shadow suddenly appeared next to the mysterious fox. Shadow seemed a little surprised as he examined the fox from head to toe.

"Tails, I need to get you and Amy to the hospital now. Sonic took a turn for the worse. The doctors have no idea if he will make it. They say that it looks really iffy right now. Besides, the two of you probably need some medical attention of your own." Amy's face went whiter than it had been, giving the impression that she was likely to pass out soon.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" The owner of that voice was none other than Dr.Eggman. "I see that you got into some kind of little fight. How amusing." He turned his attention specifically to Shadow. "Shadow, I see that you still have that Chaos Emerald, and I'm afraid that I need it for something. Hand it over." Shadow just laughed. 

"Why should I give it to you?"

"Shadow, this is no time for games. What about Sonic?" piped in Amy.

"I just so happen to have a new robot and I need a little more power than what I have. Now, if you'll be so kind as to hand it over." A swarm of deadly looking robots appeared. Obviously, Eggman was willing to take the emerald by whatever means necessary. 

The new fox looked up at Eggman. He didn't look happy. Eggman was in a cocky mood, so he decided to take a moment and pick on the fox.

"Well don't you look beat up. What happened, did Shadow pick on you?" taunted the Doctor. Shadow tensed up, feeling that whatever happened next would be bad. Very bad. "Or was it Amy? Did her hammer get to you?"

The fox stood up, a look of pain on his face as he did so. He looked at Eggman for a minute, then took his right arm, and held it in front of him, though it wasn't pointed at Eggman. He put his thumb and first two fingers together, pointing then at Eggman's robots. He spread them apart, forming a small triangle. Eggman was too arrogant to have any idea what was about to happen.

"Awe. Are you admiring the incredible genies of my work?" The fox glared at him, then smiled. Shadow reacted the quickest. He jumped down off the rubble, grabbing Amy and Tails. He teleported them to a safe distance.

The fox took put his hand behind his back, and then jerked it out. Shadow, Amy, and Tails watched this from quite a ways above. A greenish yellow triangle erupted from his fingers, and shot towards the robots. As it passed over them, several bolts of energy left the triangle and make contact with the robots, completely destroying them. The fox turned his head, and looked at Eggman, who quickly left.

The fox turned his head and looked up at the trio, who were sitting in the crumbling seats of the coliseum. He disappeared, reappearing beside them. Shadow put himself between the fox and Amy and Tails. For the first time, the fox spoke, though he had his back turned.

"My name is Darius."

"And what business do you have with us?" asked Shadow, going on the defensive side.

"That, I don't know. Perhaps you had better to your friend." Amy's brain suddenly connected a few dots that had been running astray.

"Wait. What happened to that dragon?" Darius smiled.

"Him? He's dead. Vaporized." 

"Just like that, huh? You just magically vaporized what may have been one of the most powerful creatures that I've seen?" The fox turned to face Shadow. There was no anger apparent on his face.

"Yes." Shadow looked the fox in the eyes before teleporting Amy and Tails to the hospital where Sonic was. 

_Just who is he? He's so cocky, but so strong. I wonder what he's after._ Shadow chuckled to himself. _If it's a fight that he's looking for, then it's a fight that he will get._


	3. Chapter 3

Judgment chapter 3

Too make a long story short, Sonic was in bad shape, but he would live. The doctors had spent several hours in surgery, repairing what they could. His left arm was in a complete cast that would stay on for a couple of months at least.

The injuries of Tails and Amy were far less severe. Tails' knee was just bruised, and Amy's cuts were all closed. Shadow didn't know what to think.

He stood in the doorway to Sonic's room. Amy had her arms on his bed, and was asleep. Tails had gone home, only to be ambushed by Cream. Shadow chuckled to himself. It was hard to decide if that rabbit was just a very concerned friend, or if she was in love with the little fox.

The real question on Shadow's mind was that other fox, Darius. 

Shadow knew very little about him, but expected a fight with him anytime. Shadow, the normally fearless warrior, was somewhat scarred of Darius, though he would never let it show to anyone. He was used to inspiring fear, not feeling it, though he could care less what others thought about him.

_What was that..magic? I've never seen anything like that. I could be a Chaos technique, though I felt no Chaos energy coming from him._

Tails yawned, opening his eyes. Cream had been waiting on his doorstep, very worried. Tails tried to reassure her that everything was alright, but the cream colored rabbit had gone to tears. Tails wondered about her as the conversation played out in his mind.

"_Tails!" Tails looked up and saw Cream running towards him. Cheese had been asleep on the doorstep, and was very startled by Cream's sudden outburst. Cream stopped a few feet in front of him._

"_Hi Cream." _

"_Where have you been? You've been gone for two weeks." Tails smiled, putting his hands behind his head and laughing._

"_Well, me, Sonic, and Amy went on a little trip. Amy said that it was meant to be a vacation, thought that's not it turned out. Didn't Vanilla tell you?" Cream shook her head._

"_No. I had nothing to do a few days ago, so I decided to come see what you were doing, but you weren't here, and the X-Tornado was gone." _

"_OH NO! THE X-TORNADO! I didn't bring it back! I've got to go get it." Tails turned and started walking back to the hospital to have Shadow teleport him back to the coliseum. Cream grabbed his hand._

"_No. Tails, you just got out of the hospital. You need to rest for a few days."_

"_But I was only in there because Shadow teleported us to Sonic. The doctors took a look at my knee, and told me I could go. It was nothing serious."_

"_Please," begged the rabbit. Tails looked at Cream for a second. Cheese was now hovering over her shoulder, with his hands on it. Tails thought about it. A couple of days off wouldn't' hurt him, but the X-Tornado might be in bad shape. Creams deep brown eyes didn't give him much choice. "Come stay with us. My mother will make you something to eat. You look hungry."_

"_Alright, but just for a few days." Cream smiled, joy radiating from her. Cheese was obviously happy, bouncing up and down._

Now, Tails was wondering how Sonic was. It was early in the morning, with the sun just coming up. Cream and Vanilla were both asleep on the couch. The three had stayed up late watching movie after movie. He got up, and got ready to walk to the kitchen, only getting halfway there before he heard Creams voice.

"Where are you going?" she yawned, trying to wake up. Vanilla didn't move.

"I'm just getting something to eat," replied the fox, truthfully. In a few seconds, Cream was at his side. She offered to cook him breakfast. She was just a little younger than him, only by a few months, but she was a much better cook, thanks to her mother. Tails shook his head.

"There's no need, Cream. I was going have a bowl of cereal and some orange juice." Cream looked at him, then walked forward into the kitchen, grabbing an apron similar to the one her mother wore, and tying it around herself. Tails watched, somewhat confused. For the first time, it occurred to him that Cream was very attached to him. Why, he wasn't entirely sure. He guessed it had something to do with the fact that he had always been a friend, and that she was a very nice person. But making him breakfast? That seemed like a little much to Tails.

Cream grabbed a few eggs from the fridge, and started cooking.

Knuckles turned his head, looking back at the Master Emerald. It was putting of some weird energy. The three chaos emeralds that were there were also acting kind of unusual.

"Well hello." Knuckles turned his head, and saw Rouge landing a few yards behind him.

"What do you want?" The bat seemed somewhat offended, though Knuckles didn't care.

"You don't have to be so rude, ya know. I'm just dropping by to say hi and tell you that Sonic was nearly killed." That got Knuckles' attention.

"What?"

"Sonic was nearly killed in a fight with some kind of creature…I think Shadow said it was a dragon. But Sonic broke his arm in two places, and hasn't been awake for three days." Knuckles looked back at the Master Emerald, wondering if this was another plot by Rouge to steal the Master Emerald. It seemed likely. Knuckles had never heard of a live dragon in his lifetime, and it didn't seem likely that Sonic would be hurt that badly. Then again, Rouge had a look of concern on her face, though there was no way to know if the bad was lying. "I found these in one of Eggman's old bases," she said, holding out two Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles looked surprised.

"That makes six emeralds accounted for. You have two, I have three, and Shadow has one. Eggman must have the other." Rouge put her emeralds back in her pocket.

"Well, I'll see you around." said the bat as she flew off. Knuckles turned around and looked once more at the Master Emerald.

"What's going on?" he asked it.

Sonic stirred. Amy woke up instantly, looking at him. His facial expression were that of pain. Slowly, he opened his eyes. He couldn't make anything out. His vision was too cloudy, though it was rapidly clearing up. He heard a voice, but couldn't tell who it was coming from or what it was saying. After about five minutes, he sat up. By now, everything was clear, though his head hurt slightly. He was also hungry. Amy left to get some food.

Shadow looked up at the night sky. He was on the other side of the planet, wondering what to do. That fox, Darius, was gone. He left no trace. It was possible for Shadow to teleport to someone's location by thinking about them hard enough, but he didn't know the fox well enough to do that. It was bothering him that there was another creature as powerful as him. _That fox looks a lot like me, as much as a fox could._ Shadow laughed to himself.

"Faker."

From an overhang, Darius looked down upon the ruins of a city. The sun was setting to his back. _What was that? I've never done that before. It's as if it just came to me…a relic from the past. I thought that all that was behind me. I lost the ability to do magic several years ago. That was Scathe, I think…_

The fox stood up, and popped his neck. The dragon was dead. _The dragon…what was that? I don't remember that one at all. _

"_What is going on?" Darius jumped down into the city. "Maybe those hedgehogs have something to do with it. That black one, Shadow. Where is he?" The fox vanished into thin air, leaving an eerie effect behind._


	4. Chapter 4

Judgment chapter 4

Tails watched in amusement as Cream made him breakfast. The little rabbit was humming to herself, obviously happy. Tails sighed, opening his laptop. He wanted to look a few things up. The primary reason he did this was to hide his face from Creams. He was starting to seriously consider the possibility that she might like him.

"How do you like you eggs?" Tails looked up, having gotten too absorbed in his work to realize that she was talking to him.

"What?"

"How do you like your eggs?" asked the rabbit once more.

"Oh. I don't care. Just however."

"Ok." Cream went back to her cooking.

Suddenly, Tails found what he was looking for. He'd been typing every possible description of the attack launched by Darius into an internet search engine. He found what he was looking for.

_Scathe: an extremely powerful magic attack, identifiable by the characteristic energy triangle, the bolts of pure energy, and the large amount of destruction and damage done to multiple targets. The ability to cast Scathe, as well as all other magical attacks, is extremely rare, and thought to have been non-existent for over 1000 years._

_For more information see: __Magic_

Tails looked at the drawing of the attack. Darius had defiantly used Scathe.

"Here you go." Cream laid a large plate of eggs down in front of Tails, as well as a large glass of orange juice.

"Oh. Thanks." Tails turned off and closed his laptop, then set it in his backpack. He took a large bit of egg. He made an odd/surprised face, scarring Cream. He chewed more slowly, rolling his tongue around though the eggs, his face deep in thought. Cream looked like she might have a heart-attack. Finally Tails swallowed.

"Wow," he said looking her in the eyes. "These are great. Did you mom teach you how to cook these?" Cream went from worried to ecstatically happy. She shook her head, indicating that her mother did teach her. Tails smiled, and continued to eat. It really was good. Cream smiled, and started eating hers. Vanilla was still asleep.

Sonic was eating, though weakly. His left arm was driving him crazy. He hated not being able to move it. Amy was watching him carefully, still concerned. After eating 3 chilidogs (even in this condition, chilidogs where the only thing that he was interested in eating), he finally looked away from his food.

"Hey, Amy?" he said, turning as he spoke.

"Yes, Sonic?"

"What happened back there? I don't remember much." Amy looked at him curiously, wondering why he had no memory of the events. It never occurred to her that he had been knocked out for most of it.

"Well, we were exploring the coliseum when Shadow showed up. Tails said something about something below us. He said that it was big and moving." Amy sat up on the bed, then smoothed some of her quills and moved one out of her eyes. "We went down into a room. All of Tails' equipment quit working. We heard some crashing, then the ceiling caved in, leaving us it what was more or less a pit. A dragon showed up, and you and Shadow tried to fight it. You got hurt, then it left for a minute. It came back, knocking some fox named Darius through the wall. I got knocked out after that, so I have no idea what happened next. You'll have to ask Shadow whenever he comes back. How are you feeling?"

"I've been better, and this cast is driving me crazy. When can I leave?"

"Whenever you like after tomorrow. You need to stay for one more night." Sonic groaned, and laid back down in his bed. It was going to be a long day.

Cream was cleaning up after breakfast. Tails had tired to help, but she told him to get off of his knee. She didn't believe him when he said he was fine. So, he had gone into the living room, and got his laptop back out. However, the battery was too low to do anything. He sighed, and looked around the room, board.

Darius opened his eyes. He was standing on top of a large, ruined statue in the middle of the ruined city that he had been looking at just moments before. The sun was going down, but this didn't make any difference to him. He could see better in the dark than the light anyway.

The ruined city was the remains of a very ancient empire. In the center was a huge, run down castle, surrounded by homes and buildings that got smaller and more run-down the closer they got to the outer wall, which was actually in better shape than the rest of the city. Darius didn't know what had led him here, or just where it was, exactly.

He jumped down, and started walking towards the castle. The streets were impassible in some places, having been left out to the elements for an untold number of years. Darius walked into a skeleton. He looked down at, not disgusted or scarred. It had to have been there for at least 200 years. The wind was picking up, and the blowing was making the place seem even more eerie than normal. Darius took in a deep breath, and proceeded to the castle, not the least bit scarred by the noise.

Suddenly, a wild, lesser-fox jumped out in front of him, snarling. It was down on it's paws, with drool coming out of it's mouth. It probably hadn't eaten in days. Darius just looked at it for a second. Then, he reached into his coat, pulling out a gun. He pointed it at the fox, and pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot rang out across the dead city, sending birds flying into the air.

Darius continued on, feeling no guilt for killing the lesser-fox. He had probably done it a favor. He never considered the possibility that it might have kits somewhere. A question struck his mind. Just how did the animals evolve in such different ways. How had foxes evolved from lesser-foxes? A lesser-fox was a wild animal, not civilized at all. They didn't speak a single language, and were one of the few species that had evolved in such a way that part of the species was civilized, and one was wild.

The air was getting cooler as he approached the castle. It carried a bad aura, though this was not enough to discourage Darius. He noticed that the wild animals stop nesting at a certain distance from the castle. They wouldn't get any closer.

"Hm. I wonder why."

He reached the top of the steps, and turned around. The sun was no longer visible over the cliff, though some light could still be seen coming over it. Above, the screeches of lesser-bats could be heard. A pain tore though his chest. This castle had been abandoned, but why?

Having no problems seeing in the pitch-black interior of the castle, he proceeded in. The inside was a mess. A large chandelier, which was probably very impressive when it was new, was laying in thousands of pieces in the floor. The massive doors had manages to stay intact, keeping out much of the outside damage. Darius looked up, and saw the moon rising through the massive window frames, one of which still had some glass in it.

He lowered his gaze to the staircase that led into the upper part of the castle. There were several skeletons laying on and around it. Blood that had been spilled so many years ago had soaked in to some of the wood, giving it an eerie, though interesting look. Rain that had came in through the busted windows had washed most of it away. Above the staircase was a large plaque that was still in good enough condition to read. The language was one that Darius didn't recognize at first. However, it soon came to him.

He was in the Palace of Nabdrodeisiea. Or more specifically, the Nechrol of Nabdrodeisiea. This place had been abandoned over 1000 years ago. How it was still in this condition was beyond him. He laughed, remembering the tail that he had been told regarding it's history.

Several years before, when he was still a young kit, Darius's friend told him the story.

"_A long time ago, Nabdrodeisiea was a large, powerful empire. The ruled most of the land on the continent that they were on, though not by force. Most of the countries that had been independent before becoming part of Nabdrodeisiea joined out of free will. Everyone loved the royal family, and were in turn treated very kindly. _

_The palace was magnificent and huge, bigger than it looked, for it had a massive underground section. Every time there was a need to celebrate, the celebration took place inside the palace's huge inner chamber._

_After ruling for over 700 years, a new successor to the throne was chosen. His name was Vayne. At first, Vayne's rule went smoothly. But after a couple of years, the people began to distrust him. He wasn't as nice as his predecessors. Soon, a war erupted with a neighboring empire, a war which Nabdrodeisiea won. However, one war led to another, and soon, the entire planet was involved. But the war wasn't against Nabdrodeisiea, it was against her king, Vayne. The other empires knew that the root of the evil was the king, and focused only on assassinating him. A plan was made._

_The countries called for a treaty. The meeting was to be held inside the inner chamber of the palace, where parties were normally held. The Kings of the other countries showed up, knowing that they wouldn't make it back. They intended to overwhelm Vayne and kill him themselves. They were sure that Vayne wouldn't be expecting this. The Kings had a reputation for their lack of violence. _

_In truth, Vayne hadn't been expecting this. He had other plans. He intended to poison all of them, including himself. He was a maniac. _

_That didn't happen. On the day of the party, Vayne was found, decapitated, lying in his bed._

_The citizens of Nabdrodeisiea attacked the kings, assuming that it was their doing. They had been brainwashed by Vayne's lies, most of which were easy to believe. The Kings locked themselves inside the castle, fighting for their lives, trying to convince the public what was going on. However, no one believed it. In a final desperate act, the kings put all of their power together, each having a Chaos Emerald. Vayne's emerald had been captured and was now in the processing of the six Kings. They attempted to use the ancient art of Chaos Control and teleport out. But Vayne's emerald didn't do what was expected of it._

_Vayne's hatred and insanity had soaked into the emerald. Instead of teleporting out, a wave of hatred, confusion, violence, and bloodlust exploded from the room. The results were terrible._

_For the next week, people focused on mindless killing, having had all other desire. Mothers killed their children, men their wives. The chaos left no one living within 2000 miles of the castle._

_The area where the castle once stood was forbidden, and it's location soon forgotten. To this day, no one knows where it is._

"_Except me." said Darius to himself. His memories were coming back to him, things that he had forced himself to forget. Such as the last time he was here._

_He shook the memories out of his mind, and went off to the right, and then down into the dungeons._

_Shadow awoke, startled. It was raining, and he had fell asleep outside. He stood up, noticing that his Chaos emerald was acting strange. It was the red one that he normally carried around with him because he could draw the most power from it. But now, the emerald seemed to want something. Shadow let it lead him away._

_On Angle Island, Knuckles awoke at the sound of an explosion. He opened his eyes seconds before hitting the ground, having been tossed through the air. He stood up, and ran over to the Master Emerald. The explosion seemed to have come from there. Knuckles stopped a few steps away from it. It was glowing and pulsating in a odd manner. It's color had also changed from green to red._

_Rouge had been enjoying a nice night flight when she the chaos emeralds in her pocket suddenly let out small waves of energy, blowing her several feet off course. She came to a hover and took out the emeralds. The appeared normal, though there were a bit warm._

_Alarms went off when the emerald in Dr.Eggman's holding chamber let out a large shockwave of energy. The doctor ran in, followed by his two robots. The doctor took a look at the power output readings. His emerald had just over doubled it's potential maximum energy output. Eggman smiled and laughed to himself._

"_Well, it looks like I won't be needing Shadow's emerald after all."_

_Outside the hospital, it suddenly began storming furiously. Sonic and Amy looked out of the window, both getting the impression that something was not right. At Vanilla's house, Cream and Tails did the same thing._


	5. Chapter 5

Judgment chapter 5

Darius continued walking deeper in to the ruins of the castle. The deeper he got, the better shape it was in. This was something of a surprise. He didn't exactly know where he was going, but his body seemed to know. He got went deeper and deeper until he found the dungeons. The door was locked. Not feeling like turning back, he kicked it in.

In this particular room were at least 50 prison cells. Everyone of them was filled corpses, several of them still in the position of killing each other. The guards had killed each other, one had a spear running through his skull. Deciding that what he was look for was not down here, he exited the room and continued off into an even deeper level of the castle.

Knuckles approached the Master Emerald. It was pulsing faster and faster, emitting an unnatural energy. Suddenly, Tikal, the spirit of a previous Guardian appeared beside him. He looked at her for a moment, then turned back to the Master Emerald.

Tikal was an Echidna, like Knuckles, though she had lived centuries earlier. Now, she was almost solid, though it was obvious that she was not, still retaining some degree of transparency.

"Any idea what's going on?"

"No. I'm afraid not." Her voice was filled with fear. "It feels like a memory has surfaced. A terrible memory. But I'm not sure. I've never seen this befo-…no…no no no no NO NO NO!!" she screamed. Knuckles turned his head, knowing that he could do nothing. Before she had a chance to ask, she disappeared.

"Great. Something's happening and I can't do a thing about it. Some guardian I am." said Knuckles, crossing his arms and facing the Master Emerald. Without warning, another wave of energy erupted from the Master Emerald. Knuckles was picked up by the wave and flung several hundred feet.

"Damnit," was all he muttered as he tried to get up.

Outside the hospital, clouds much darker than the storm clouds rolled in. Sonic and Amy both looked out the window. Amy reached out and grabbed Sonic's hand, scarred. Even Sonic, who didn't show much fear, seemed worried. This didn't help Amy's condition.

"Come on, Amy. We need to find Tails." Instead of arguing, Amy followed Sonic out the door to the elevator.

As they walked out the front door of the hospital, they felt a shockwave hit them. It wasn't very strong, but it was enough that they felt it. Sonic, with Amy still holding his hand, took off running to find Tails. Amy was flung out behind him, but could care less.

After checking the garage where Tails would normally be, the headed to Vanilla's house to dry off. It was the closest, making it the logical choice.

When they got there, they found Tails getting ready to leave, dressed in a heavy raincoat. Seeing Sonic and Amy, he went back into the house, motioning for them to follow. The went inside.

Greetings were exchanged. However, the question on everyone's mind soon came out.

"So, Tails," asked Sonic. "Do you have any idea what's going on?" The young fox shook his head.

"No Sonic. I'm clueless. My computer's dead, and I can't think of anything that could cause this." They stood in silence for a minute. The ringing of the phone broke the silence. Vanilla picked it up, listened for a second, shaking her head. A look of shock exploded across her normally calm and happy features.

"What!?" She listened for about a minute before fainting. Tails caught her and picked up the phone. He started to explain what had happened to Vanilla, but quickly stopped. He listened very intently for few seconds. He raised his head, looking everyone in the eye, then let his gaze drop to the floor. Fear was the primary look on his face. After another minute passed, he hung up the phone. Sonic was the first to ask.

"What's going on?" Tails looked him the eye. The young fox looked like he was trying not to panic. He took a deep breath.

"That was Shadow. He just…found Eggman…dead." There were looks of surprise on everyone's face, and a couple of gasps. Tails continued. "He's in Eggman's newest fortress. It's a not too far from here, but it's really high in the air. He says that some kind of dark cloud is rapidly spreading. Also," now the fox burst into tears. "Sonic…Angle Island blew up a minute ago." As if to prove his statement, a massive shockwave hit the house, causing several books and plates to fall off the shelves.

"Knuckles?" Amy looked she was on the verge of crying. Tails shook his head. "I don't know, Amy." Cream fell to her knees, gently shaking. Tears were falling from her deep brown eyes. Amy reached down to try to comfort her. It was hard to tell if it had any affect.

Despite the face that Knuckles hadn't particularly liked Cream, and in fact found her a bit annoying, she had developed a fondness for him. It wasn't love, but that of a close friend, similar to how she felt towards Sonic and Amy.

Sonic and Tails looked each other in the eye, neither saying a word.

Shadow stepped over Eggman's body. The doctor was lying facedown in a pool of blood, which was still flowing from that massive hole in his skull. Shadow guessed that during one of the shockwaves, Eggman had fell forward and caved a good part of his skull in. Shadow didn't much care for blood, keeping his head turned away from Eggman's body.

He found the Chaos emerald, and took it. After taking one last look around, he used Chaos Control and left.

Darius continued walking in a straight line, ignoring all of the various side passages. Without warning, fire suddenly exploded from his fingertips, lighting everything that could burn on fire. It provided some light, not that Darius needed it.

"Fira? Why?" he asked himself, continuing to walk towards the large doors ahead. Reaching them, he opened them and stepped inside.

This room was huge. Darius walked in a little ways before falling to his knees, his hands on his ears. The screams of what seemed like thousands of people exploded in his ears. This continued for a second before he found himself in another place.

He was where he had been, but this time it was it very well. He looked at his hands, and saw that he was transparent.

"_Tell me, have they given in yet?"_ Darius looked up to see who was talking. It was a green hedgehog with red streaks in his quills.

"_No, Lord Vayne. They are still persisting."_ Darius looked behind him to see a large cat, bowing deeply before the hedgehog. Darius turned his gaze back to the hedgehog, who was now sitting in a chair that almost could have been a throne.

"_Very well. You may go."_

"_As you wish, my lord."_

As suddenly as it started, it ended. Darius was back in the room that he had started in. He stood up breathing heavily, and continued to walk forward. Then, another one hit.

This time, he was in the same room, but it seemed like it was a much latter time. This time, the hedgehog was sitting in the chair. The cat was accompanied by two more cats, a hedgehog, and a fox.

"_Lord Vayne."_

"_What is it?"_

"_The echidnas…they are attempting to use the Master Emerald to gain more power. If it works, they will have more than enough to repel our solders and launch a counter invasion. The guardian is going to try to stop them , but I don't think that she will have much luck. They are already much stronger than she is." Vayne stood, and walked over to the cat._

"_If it works, I want you to use whatever means necessary to stop them."_

"_Yes, my lord."_

_Like the previous one, this flashback stopped. Darius was very shaken by now. He hadn't been expecting this to happen. Suddenly, a third flashback started._

_This time, it was one an island somewhere. Several large echidna warriors were doing something around a giant stone of some kind. What caught his eye was Sonic. He was standing by a red echidna with spines running down to his shoulders. The red echidna was holding another echidna up, though this one was a female. Suddenly, the stone, which Darius now noticed was green, let out a burst of light. The echidna warriors disappeared._

_Like the two before it, the flashback ended quickly. Darius stood up and looked around. He saw a table in the center of the room. He walked over to the table. On it was a sword, still in its case. Darius picked up, and teleported out of the castle._

_A few hours later_

_Vanilla had woken up, though still in shock, she was fine. Tails had fallen asleep on the couch. Cream was also on the couch, asleep. She was hugging of his tails and Cheese. Amy was looking at Sonic. Sonic was gazing off into space, wondering what to do. He knew that the cast on his arm wasn't ready to come off, and wouldn't be for a while. This seriously hampered his ability to fight._

_Amy was waiting for two things. The first was a reaction from Sonic. He had just been sitting, thinking, for about 30 minutes. The other was a knock on the door, which came much sooner than expected. Amy got up and answered it, with Sonic failing to react at all._

"_Hi." she said, growing worn out from the events of the day._

"_Hello Amy" Espio_

"_Hi Amy" Vector_

"_Hiiiyaa Amy!" Charmy. Charmy had the most energetic of the greetings, giving Amy a flying hug. As annoying as it was, she was used to it. Charmy was still the little hyper bee that he had been since he was born._

_The three members of Chaotix came in and sat down. They started a conversation with Amy and Vanilla. Sonic was still lost in thought, which was odd for him. Then another knock at the door. However, the knocker didn't wait to be let in. With complete disregard for manners, Shadow entered the house. He walked into the kitchen where everyone else was, save Tails, Cream, and Cheese, who were asleep on the couch. He took a seat next to Vanilla, who still seemed scared of him. Sonic finally turned around, facing Shadow first._

"_Is Knuckles alive?" the blue hedgehog sounded sad, though it was obvious that the was trying to hide it. Shadow shook his head._

"_I went by the spot that used to be Angle Island. There was no trace of the Master Emerald or the Chaos Emeralds, and I don't think that Rouge could have carried all of them off in the time between the explosion and the time I arrived. I don't think that your friend could have survived." Shadow took a breath, and crossed his arms. "However, I didn't find any pieces of him laying anywhere." Sonic looked like he was getting ready to either kill Shadow or start crying. However, neither happened. Before anyone had a chance to react, Amy hit Shadow over the head with her hammer hard enough to break the chair he was sitting in._

"_If you EVER say ANYTHING like that again, I'll-"_

"_Yea yea yea, I get it." was Shadows response. He was standing up again. Amy took another swing at him, and before Shadow had time to react, he was sent into the living room via hammer swing. He got up, shook his head, and spoke calmly but with much anger in his voice._

"_If you don't stop doing that, you'll regret it." His tone was cool now. "And so will the Faker." Sonic looked at Shadow._

"_Hey, call me whatever you want. It doesn't make much difference to me. I can't fight right now anyway." Shadow just glared at Sonic. He started to say something, turning his head to the couch, but stopped. His expression was one of confusion._

_Cream had moved closer to Tails, and was asleep in his arms. The thunder cracked very loudly outside, causing the house to shake._

_Darius, now standing beside a pond, drew the sword. He admired the gleaming blade, which had no dust on it whatsoever. He liked this sword. He had missed it._


	6. Chapter 6

Judgment chapter 6

Darius smiled, holding the sword. It was the perfect instrument, carefully crafted, finely polish, and incredibly sharp. It had but one purpose, to destroy those who opposed the wielder. It was quite good at this, having slain several of the most famous names in history. Darius chuckled to himself, remembering the last time he had seen the weapon. It was time to fix the problems of the planet. Darius smiled.

"It's killing time."

Amy, Vanilla, Shadow, Charmy, Espio, Vector, and Sonic stared at the couch. Vanilla didn't know how to react. On one hand, they weren't very old. On the other, they would be some day. Amy was thinking more about how cute it was. Shadow was disgusted by the sight, turning away from it and walking into the kitchen. As for the others, their thoughts weren't clear. Shadow broke the silence.

"Are you going to stare at them, or are we going to try to figure out what to do?" Sonic turned his head, but not in Shadow's direction. He was looking out the window, his jaw slowly dropping. Amy was the first to notice this.

"Sonic, what's wrong. What are you looking at?" Amy found out a few seconds later. By now, everyone, with the exception of Tails and Cream, was looking out the window, trying to see what Sonic was looking at. Instead of them seeing it, it saw them. A large dark green object came through the wall with a loud crash. This woke Tails, who was surprised by the loud noise, but seemed even more surprised by where Cream was. He jumped off of the couch, wondering just what was happening. As he looked up, the object lifted, revealing that it was a leg. The creature that was controlling it lifted it up through the ceiling, causing even more of the roof to collapse. The dust cleared up. Vanilla screamed.

The creature was unlike anything that any of them had ever seen before. It had six huge legs as thick as tree trunks. The legs were jointed in four places, not counting the connection to the center of the body. The central chunk of the body sat about sixteen feet above the ground, with highest joint of the legs a good ten feet above that. It had a large tail equipped with three sets of powerful looking jaws and two stingers that almost looked like fangs. The tail was jointed in several places. The central part of the body looked heavily armored. The head had at least four sets of eyes (none of them could be sure), all black. The head was much wider than the rest of the body, and set a good distance ahead of the first pair of legs. The space in-between was more or less a neck. The jaws on the head had a joint in them, and were connected to skin. This creature obviously ate it's prey whole.

"What is that thing?" yelled Sonic, trying to draw it's attention away from the rest of people trapped inside the house, though it could hardly be called a house now.

"I don' know!" though he was yelling at the top of his lungs, the young fox's words barely got to Sonic. Shadow appeared beside Sonic.

"What are you doing?" Shadow's voice was a bit colder than usual. Sonic wasn't sure what the ebony and crimson hedgehog was mad about.

"I can't fight it, so I figure I might as well keep it busy."

"Hmph." Shadow launched an attack at the creature. It had been paying attention to Sonic, and had no idea what was happening else ware. Shadow's attack hit the creature in the head full force. He bounced off, looking back to see if he had done any damage. It was obvious, however, that he'd done nothing other than anger the creature. "Damnit. That things strong." Down below, Sonic was dodging blows from the creatures' tail, which moved extremely fast. Sonic was faster, but not by much. However, the creature was slow in moving and reacting to Shadow's blow. Shadow landed next to Sonic, who was standing behind the creature.

"It's tough."

"It's also fast." Without warning, something exploded near one of the middle legs on the creature. Tails was shooting rockets at it. Shadow and Sonic asked the same question simultaneously.

"Where did he get that?" The creatures' reaction was not expected. It attacked its own leg several times in a row. Thinking, Shadow picked up a rock and threw it at the creatures' head. The rock landed, followed almost instantly by the tail. Sonic laughed, and took off running. Shadow followed.

"Shadow! He's fast, but he's not smart. Use it against him!" Sonic yelled just loud enough for Shadow to hear him.

"Hmm…just like someone I know." Shadow muttered under his breath. Both of the hedgehogs used this tactic for a few minutes. It soon became clear that it wasn't working. The creature wasn't getting smarter. It was just too heavily armored. Meanwhile, Amy had gone to work at one of the legs of the creature with her hammer. Despite her skill with her Pico Pico Hammer, she was hurting herself more than the creature. The three hedgehogs all met up in front of the creature, though a ways away. It looked at them, trying to decide which one to attack. It really was stupid.

"What are we going to do?" asked a somewhat scarred Amy.

"I have no idea. We might try-" Before Sonic had a chance to finish his sentence, two huge yellow blade shaped beams crossed in a way that made them look like a giant X flew past them, creating a shockwave. The X hit the creature, completely cutting of one of the middle legs, and taking a out a small chunk of the tail. The creature howled in pain.

"What tha…" Vector seemed to sum up the various questions that everyone was asking. Vanilla looked about ready to faint again. She didn't care for the sight of blood any more than Shadow.

Suddenly, the creature went flying into some houses. A very loud thud could be heard, followed by a soft landing and a hard one. The creature was lying on it's back, trying to get up. Shadow was the first to see what had hit the creature. Darius.

Darius hit the landed very gracefully on his feet, descending in a slow, somewhat unnatural way. He had a long, unbuttoned, black trench coat on, black pants, black boots, a black shirt, and black gloves. His fur was perfectly clean, with the red showing through very clearly. Amy called out to him, but got no response.

The mysterious fox started forward, increasing speed at an alarming rate. Without warning, he launched himself over a hundred feet into the air. Everyone watched, amazed, with the exception of Shadow, who was really starting to wonder just who that fox was. Darius was did a front flip as he got to the apex of his jump, right above the creature. A blinding white light was emitted from the fox. Around the creature, several large, white rings appeared and started rotating. Each was composed of a complex set of symbols.

Gravity seemed to be sucked towards the center of the circles for a brief second, before a huge shockwave erupted. All of the light around the fox surged downwards, impacting the creature.

Tails watched the explosion, getting more and more excited as it reached it's climax. The little fox had a great interest in energy that couldn't be dampened by even these conditions. He was sure that the creature was dead. In fact, everyone was. Darius landed at the point the had taken off from, just as gracefully as he had after knocking the creature over. A cheer erupted from everyone, excluding Shadow, Sonic, and Darius. They were by far the most experienced fighters, and knew not to celebrate just yet. It didn't take long before Sonic spoke.

"I think he got it!" This brought out a second cheer.

Darius suddenly bent his knees, lowering his center of gravity it. He and Shadow both knew this was not over.

A loud scream was heard as the creature came tearing though the rubble, rushing at Darius. Shadow jumped back, trying to get out of the way. Darius jumped a little ways off the ground, kicking his feet out so that his body was parallel to the street below him. The creature rushed over him, almost getting him with its jaws. Darius landed, and charged at the creature, which was just slowing down and turning around.

Darius accelerated to a speed that was just beyond anything that Sonic or Shadow was capable of. Another massive X was formed, this time completely severing the tail, as well as a back leg. The creature his Darius with it's leg, though it was a reaction to the pain. Darius went flying through a wall. Seeing the chance to end the battle where it was, Shadow grabbed his emerald.

"CHAOS SPEAR!!" Several small balls of energy buried themselves into the creature, with a few of them entering through the mouth. Several small, but lethal explosions occurred a few seconds latter, dealing the deathblow the to the creature.

It fell to the ground, dead.


	7. Chapter 7

Judgment chapter 7

Shadow walked over to the dead creature. He was right in assuming that it was still alive the first time. As he approached it, he did realize that it was indeed dead this time. He turned his head, looking over at Amy, who was looking for Darius.

Amy didn't think that anyone could get up and walk away from that impact. Even Sonic and Shadow had their limits. When she got to the hole in the wall, she looked into it, straight through an entire house, and into another one. With a gasp, she ran around the house and over to the other one.

She entered the house, and saw a small family of hedgehogs. She kindly asked them if a black and red fox had came in though the wall. They told her that one had, but it had crawled back out of the hole and disappeared. Amy thanked them, and walked back out.

Darius appeared next to Shadow. The fox was staring at the creature's dead body. With a flick of his wrist, a white light appeared, causing the body to vanish. Still looking at the spot where the body had been, the fox spoke.

"How did you kill it?" Shadow, who had been deep in thought, looked at the fox.

"What?"

"How did you kill it?"

"Why should I tell you?" The fox looked Shadow in the eye. Shadow felt a chill run down his spine. For the first time he could remember, he was actually scared. The fox just chuckled lightly.

"Because I asked."

"Chaos Spheres."

Amy came out from around the house. She saw Sonic staring at something. Following his gaze, she saw that Shadow and Darius both looked like they were ready to kill each other. The started running at them, intending to get in between them in hopes of preventing a fight. However, the intentions of the fox were nothing even close to starting another fight.

Before Amy was even halfway there, the fox turned to Tails.

"Maybe you can tell me what the hell's going on."

Rouge turned her head, accelerating even more. She had been on a peaceful flight, enjoying herself, when she decided to go fly with a colony of lesser-bats that happened to live in the area. Normally, the lesser-bats didn't mind her presence. In fact, they seemed to enjoy it, flying with her and sometimes actually playing with her. She felt peaceful inside when they were around. But tonight had been different.

She had approached the colony like she normally would, flying in at about the same level the majority of the colony was at. They noticed her, and rushed towards her. Rouge called out to them in greeting. When she got no reply, she came to a hover in mid-air, wondering what was going on. When they got close enough, she could see that they were on the attack. Turning around, Rouge prepared to help them with what ever was bothering them. Seeing nothing, she turned back around. Just as she did, they attacked her, causing her to fall almost to the ground. She starting flying again, and took off as fast as she could, trying to escape. The boundary line for their hunting territory was not too far off, only a few minutes. Rouge was sure that she could outrun them.

Now, she was flying faster than she ever had before, trying to outrun the bats. They were fast enough to keep up with her. She was bleeding from several bites that she had received from the lesser-bats, and was starting to get a little dizzy. With a final push, she flew out of their territory without looking back. They followed her for a few minutes, but gave up and turned around. Starting to feel very lightheaded, Rouge landed on a rock. She sat there for a few minutes before walking off. She didn't get very far before sitting down once more, and passing out soon after.

Rouge woke up. Her senses were still coming back to her, and she soon realized that she was in a bed. After trying for a short period of time, she opened her eyes and sat up. At first, she wasn't sure just what she was looking at. She soon figured it out.

She was staring at a fox, whose fur was as white as snow, but with some red streaks in it. The fox wore a simple pair of blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and boots. The fur on her head was arranged in a way that made it look like she had quills.

The fox was looking out a window, probably thinking about something.

"Ungh…where am I?" The fox turned around, suspired. It was now that Rouge noticed that she had two tails, just like that little friend of Sonic. The fox gently laughed.

"Maybe your friend had better explain that to you. I'm Sabina. Your name is…Rouge, I think…"

"Sure is." said the bat, getting up off the bed. She herd the door open.

"I think that's him right now." said the fox, walking into the kitchen. A red echidna walked into the room, carrying a few logs.

A few hours later, Tails finished explaining the past few years to Darius, who had been paying close attention.

"And that's just about it." said the young fox, stretching his arms and yawning. Tails had told Darius a lot more than he had asked for, though the older fox didn't seem to mind. "What about you? None of know much about you."

"Well," said Darius with a yawn. "I'll tell you what I remember."

"Great. Another person that don't have all of his memory." Sonic's sudden outburst caused everyone to turn their heads.

"Just what is that supposed to mean!?" yelled Shadow. It was very rare for the normally calm hero to every yell, and as a result, almost everyone backed away a little.

"I'm just saying." was Sonic's response.

"Anyway," continued Darius, ignoring the two hedgehogs, and continuing saying whatever it was he had to say. "A few weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of a meadow. I had no idea where I was, so I just laid there until the sun came up. By the time it did, I remembered enough to know who I was. I wondered a few days before seeing you plane" he said as he turned to Tails. Turning back to face everyone, he continued. "I was very lost, and getting hungry, so I decided to see if you would give me a ride to he nearest town, or at the very least point me in the right direction. I got to the plane, but no one was there. I looked around for a few minutes before seeing that coliseum. I went in.

After running around inside for a few minutes, I got lost in the underground part of the structure. I was there for a few minutes before something told me I was being watched. Eventually, I got up into the arena. That was where the dragon ambushed me. I just ran from it for a few minutes. I didn't know much about fighting, or more correctly, didn't remember. Eventually, it tore open a large hole in the ground and fell in. I still had no idea where you guys where. So, I went downstairs. I saw it hit Sonic. Then, it found me, and started chasing me through the passage ways. You know the rest." Everyone was silent for a second, letting this information soak in.

"But what about after we left? Where did you go then?" Amy's question seemed to make the fox curious. For a second, she didn't think that he would answer her.

"Well, I can't really say. After you left, I experimented with the abilities that were coming back to me. After I left the coliseum, I just wondered around for a while. Eventually, something told me to come here."

Various conversations broke out between the people there. Vanilla, Cream, Tails, and Amy were talking about something. Charmy interrupted everything.

"Hey, guys. What do we do now?"

Rouge was sitting at a table in the kitchen. The red echidna had been telling her about what had been going on as of late.

"And then, Angle Island just exploded."

Rouge looked the red echidna. She had no idea what had happened to him. She had been shocked at first, seeing all the scars that he had acquired. His left eye had a large scar running across it that still looked fairly new.

"I'm just glad your alive, Knuckles. I'm willing to bet that everyone else thinks you dead."

"Probably."

"Let me get this straight." said the snow-white fox. "You're the guardian of the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald is the controller of the seven Chaos Emeralds, which are more or less smaller versions of the Master Emerald. All of the emeralds hold a bunch of power, and various other things, some of which are unknown and don't make much sense, such as the spirit of that Tikal girl you were talking about."

"More or less." answered Knuckles. The snow white fox sat back in her chair, thinking.

"So," she began. "What do we do now."

"Well, I think that we need to find Sonic and the others. Something's not right, and there's no doubt that Sonic is going to try to fix it, despite his broken arm." Rouge look at Knuckles, who seemed to agree.

The three started discussing just what to do, and the quickest way to travel half-way across the planet.

High above the planet, a blue, glowing hedgehog started at a control panel, trying to bring an old weapon back to life.


	8. Chapter 8

Judgment chapter 8

Night was falling quickly, brining out a drop in the temperature. The moon was full, though hidden by clouds, casting an odd glow over the land. The wind blew, sometimes gently, sometimes in violent gusts, always howling gently.

In spite of all this, Knuckles was standing on the top of a large rock, looking out onto the ocean. The guardian of the Master Emerald was deep in thought, not sure about what to do. So much had happened over the past few days. Knuckles raised his head, looking at the partially hidden moon, which was covered by ever moving clouds. So much had happened, yet so little made sense.

Rouge.

Her sudden appearance was a question floating in his mind. He had just been out, walking along the beach and looking for crabs when he saw a slight blood trail. He followed it, and came to Rouge, laying against a rock, passed out. Without thinking, he picked her up and carried her back to the fox's hut. What was she doing all the way out here?

The fox was another question. How had she found him? Knuckles looked back down at the ocean. He was sure that it was either pure luck, or he made quite a bit of noise when he landed. The fox had said that she found him, and took him back to see if he would live. _Very reassuring._

The Master Emerald was also bothering him. He had never seen anything like that happen, or even hear of it. But Tikal…her reaction was the biggest question. Seconds before she vanished, she looked like she was seeing a memory play out before her eyes. Her screams…they were of fear. But fear of what? He thought back to his first time meeting Tikal. She had been trying to stop a group of echidna warriors from using the Master Emerald to gain more power to win some kind of war. But it was only a memory, stored in the Master Emerald. All Tikal was was a memory, a spirit, preserved by the Master Emerald. So what memory could have triggered such a violent reaction?

Tikal died the night after the echidna warriors tried to use the Master Emerald. Her body was simply too weak. She gave herself to the Master Emerald as it's eternal guardian, sacrificing her life in the process.

"Hey." Rouge broke Knuckles' train of thought. The bat had a way of doing that to most men, though her effect on Knuckles was literally that of interruption, and not distraction.

"What?"

"I'm just saying hi." said the bat, acting a little offended by the sharp response from Knuckles. She looked at him, her mood not quite clear. He continued look out over the ocean, saying nothing.

Rouge felt something in her throat. She felt like talking, but couldn't. She thought about why, but didn't come up with a reason.

"Something's happening." Rouge looked up.

"That much is obvious." Rouge replied. Knuckles turned and looked at her for a second, before looking back out over the ocean.

"No. You don't understand. Tikal once told me that the Master Emerald reacts to the world around it much like we do. She said that it remembers…and often reacts to those memories. I think that it's reacting to a memory. A bad memory."

"Your saying this happened before?" asked Rouge, following the red echidna's train of thought, though loosely. Knuckles' head dropped, leaving his staring at the ground.

"I don't really know." Rouge looked at him for a minute. There were three things going on in her mind. She was thinking about what Knuckles had just said. She was also wondering about an ability that she was sure that he had. But the third…she pushed the idea out of her mind. It didn't seem likely.

"Wait. I thought that you could always sense the location of the Master Emerald." Knuckles looked at her.

"I could, up until now. I don't know if it doesn't want to be found, or if it's gone." mumbled Knuckles, seemingly upset by this. Apparently, guarding the Master Emerald was more important to him that she had realized. Without thinking, she put her hand on his shoulder. They looked each other in the eyes.

"Don't worry about it. It's probably sitting in the middle of the ocean right now." Knuckles just stared at the bat.

Inside the hut, Sabina watched this with interest.

"Hm…I wonder." she said to herself, smiling. It appeared that the bat might have something for the echidna.

Tails pulled back on the control stick, causing the X-Tornado to rise higher into the air. It did feel good to be back in the cockpit. Most people wouldn't fly in the direction of the rising sun, but Tails couldn't help it. It was the first thing he had seen the first time he had flown, and it had held a special place in his heart ever since. It was beautiful.

The night before, it was decided that a plan of action was needed. However, no one was sure just what to do. Everyone other than Darius pitched in ideas. The ebony and crimson fox simply stood there, listening and thinking, pointing out every flaw in every plan. While very annoying, it did help considerably. For some reason, Shadow gave an idea, complete with an offer. The ebony and crimson hedgehog asked about the X-Tornado.

"_What about that thing you fly, Tails? Did you ever go and get it back?"_

"_The X-Tornado…I don't even know where it is. I marked the location on the G.P.S., but never got around to uploading it to my computers." Shadow looked at the young fox. The plane would probably be needed to find Rouge, an idea of Amy's. Though the two didn't particularly like each other, Amy knew that they needed all the help they could get. Considering how much easier having the plane would make things, Shadow offered to take the young fox to it. Tails accepted happily. Darius requested to come along, though didn't actually say why._

Now, the ebony and crimson fox was sitting behind Tails, looking around. He had spent a few minutes inside what was left of the coliseum, though never saying why. Tails didn't understand it, but he enjoyed having the other fox around. The fact that there was another two-tailed fox in the world came as something of a relief. But at the same time, Tails was wondering about the intentions of the fox, as well as why he acted the way he did. One minute, he would launch a powerful attack, hurting, though not killing, the target. Then, he would simply vaporize it. Why hadn't he done that in the first place.

"Hey, Darius. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." The young fox summoned up some courage, then asked.

"The yesterday, when we were fighting that creature, why did you blow it up, only to vaporize it latter? Why didn't you just vaporize it from the start?" Tails was a little scared about the reaction the other fox would give.

"I don't know. When I'm fighting, I'll be myself. Then, it feels like something deep inside me awakens, and I become someone else, with unknown powers. Yesterday, I felt something new awaken. It was powerful. I wanted to see what it was, so I pulled on it, and that massive explosion occurred. But I knew that I wasn't doing it right. But I don't know what was wrong. As for the vaporizing, I've got no idea how that works. That power just appears out of nowhere, and escapes before I can do anything about it."

"Ok. Hey, did Shadow say where he was going?"

"No. All he said was that he had some business to take care of." Darius was looking out the window, watching the sun rise. It was beautiful. He'd never seen one like this. "Even in the midst of destruction, the planet goes on with out a fear or a care. She knows that will survive. Nothing scares her, concerns her, or matters to her. But at the same time, she is worried about her children." Tails listened, and was silent for a few minutes before speaking again.

"What do you mean?"

"She worries about her children. She knows of the pain they cause each other, of all the blood spilled on her surface and below her waters. Specifically, she worries about us greater-creatures. She wishes for good to prevail. But she doesn't always think that our good is good, or that our evil is evil."

"That's poetic. Where did you here it?" Darius thought for a second.

"I believe his name was Nazo. He was a smart hedgehog, though a twisted one. His mind was torn between good and evil, always trying to find the dividing live between the two. I fear he may have lost to the darkness within him during his later years."

"Just how old are you, anyway?"

" I don't know."

Shadow flew across the land on his rocket skates. He had somewhere he had to be. But he couldn't get Chaos Control to work. He didn't bother thinking about the problem. Instead, he headed towards his targets.

There had been some odd thoughts playing through his mind. He couldn't help but feel that something was going on on the Ark. There was no way for him to get there, though. Without Chaos Control, he was limited to moving around on foot or vehicle. Not that this bothered him, it was just slower.

Sonic was really starting to bother him. The blue hedgehog seemed different, particularly towards Amy. Amy, for that matter, was also acting different towards Sonic. She was no longer chasing him like she normally did. She seemed different. Maybe she had finally realized that he didn't like her. No. That didn't seem likely. Perhaps his message had finally gotten through to him. Or maybe she was trying a new tactic. That seemed most likely.

Shadow had been having weird feelings about the two of them as a couple lately. When he first saw them together, he thought they were the perfect couple. 'A faker with a crazed fan girl following him.' That view was starting to change. Shadow had been seeing what he thought was the true nature of their relationship. She was crazy about him, but he didn't return the feelings. Now, the picture was a little different. She wasn't displaying the typical affection for him that she normally did. _There can only be three possibilities_ he thought to himself. _Either she is trying a new tactic, she's gotten over him, or they may have actually started bonding and falling in actual love. _

_Shadow stopped. He was now at his first and primary destination: the city of Westopolis._


	9. Chapter 9

Judgment chapter 9

Introduction to Nightmare

Part A

Amy turned her head, making sure that Sonic was still behind her. The blue hedgehog was slowing his pace, tired from the wounds he was covered in and the blood he had lost. They didn't know what had attacked him. It had been so fast, and had focused on Shadow right after attacking Sonic. Now Shadow and whatever it was were fighting, with Shadow losing. He was in the center of the stadium, waiting for the next attack. Amy had taken Sonic and Tails and tried to escape. Shadow could just teleport out if he needed.

Sonic feel to his knees, breathing heavily. He started to stand back up, but fell again. Amy and Tails turned around to see what had just happened. Then, a scream from Shadow could be heard.

His death cry.

"Amy…go." sputtered Sonic, blood coming out of his mouth as he said it. "I'll keep it busy until you can escape."

"No, Sonic. We won't leave you." Amy cried. "I can't leave you!"

"Amy, please." Sonic's words were loaded with pain and fear. He was actually begging. "Amy, I'm sorry, but…I just can't let you get hurt."

"And you think I'm going to let you die!?" Sonic looked at her, smiling weakly.

"Amy, you don't have a-" Sonic stopped. An incredible pain passed though his body. He heard Amy's earsplitting scream. Then, he heard Tails scream. He looked down, and saw a sword sticking out of his chest. "Amy, I'm sorry." His last words were faint, and full of sorrow. The sword was pulled out of him, and his body fell to the ground.

A rage beyond anything that either of them had ever felt exploded through Amy and Tails. They both watched, ready to kill what ever came out of the shadows. The sword starting moving forward as a figure came out of the shadow.

An ebony and crimson fox with two tails came into appearance. He was wearing a black trench coat, a black shirt, black pants, and black boots. Most of his fur was black, but he had crimson red streaks running down his bangs, which looked like quills. The tips of his tails were also red.

"D…Darius?" asked Amy, with a shocked but sad voice, though the anger could clearly be heard. Now, the tears started flowing faster from both her and Tails.

The fox just smiled. Amy realized that he was Darius…but something was different. His bangs were much longer that Darius'.

"No Miss Rose." said the fox. That voice…it was Darius'….but something was different. It was too deep, too cruel…too full of hatred. With a smile, the fox shot forward, driving his sword through Amy's body. He pushed the sword through up to the hilt. Putting one of his arms around her in a gentle manner, leaving the other one holding the sword, he whispered gently into her ear.

"I'm afraid not."

Amy awoke with a loud scream. Everyone woke up, with the expectations of Darius, Tails, and Shadow, who weren't' there. Everyone turned and looked at the pink hedgehog, who was crying her eyes out. Sonic was the first to walk over to her. He got down on one knee. She leaned forward and grabbed him, crying him and shaking violently.

Authors note:

I'm sorry this is so short, but it had to be.


	10. Chapter 10

Judgment chapter 10

Darius and Tails were still en-route back to Vanilla's house, or what was left of it. It was almost noon, with the sun high overhead. Tails seemed content flying. Truth be told, Darius enjoyed it too. But he was getting tired. It wasn't long before he slip into an uneasy sleep.

"_Ju…Judge Zodiark, I didn't expect to see you here."_

"_I know that, Bergan. What do you intend to do?" Bergan's face was unreadable under his armor. The big cat knew what was coming. The lord that they had sworn to protect…they were about to kill him. Zodiark, too was wearing armor._

_Zodiark was not known as a nice person. In fact, the head of the Judge Magisters was regarded as a cold-hearted killer by those who didn't know him. Those who did knew that he was indeed cold-hearted, but not by choice. He had been through hell and back several times. Most thought that he should have died._

"_Ah, Zodiark. What a pleasant surprise." Bergan bowed before his king. Zodiark turned around, looking the green hedgehog with red streaks in his quills. Zodiark felt the hatred flowing through him. That hedgehog…the basterd killed his own brothers and sisters to get where he was now._

"_What do you want, Vayne?"_

"_Is that anyway to talk to you king?" Under his armor, Zodiark smiled. He would enjoy tonight's events so much. _

"_I'm here on business. Unless you have some, don't interrupt me." Now Vayne got angry._

"_Take off you helmet and face me!" Once again, Zodiark smiled. He did as he was told._

_Upon taking off his helmet, he revealed for the first time to Vayne what he was. Bergan, as well as the other Judges knew. Zodiark was a fox. His fur was a shade of ebony, with red streaks running through his fur in a few places and on his bangs. Vayne jumped back, drawing his sword._

"_YOU'RE A FOX!" _

"_So it would seem." said Zodiark, smiling again, this time allowing Vayne to see it. Vayne hated foxes more than any other creature on the planet, and it didn't matter to him if they were greater or lesser. He had killed thousands, dropping the number of foxes to a dangerous low. There were only a few still hiding in Nabdrodeisiea. The rest had ran to the other side of the planet, not wanting to fight the maniac._

"_A MEMBER OF THE JUDGES!! A FOX!! BERGAN, DID YOU KNOW OF THIS!?" The big cat looked at the hedgehog. It didn't matter to him what Vayne said anymore. His hours were numbered, and quickly counting down._

"_Indeed I did." Vayne was furious, holding his sword, which was shaking very badly._

"_What does it matter to you? You never cared before what I was. You never asked. I did as I was told. Hell, you even appointed me head of the Judge Magisters. I see no reason to cower now. You and I both know what you've asked me to do on occasion. We both know who you've had me assassinate."_

"_GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!!" Zodiark put his helmet back on, and walked out of the room, followed by Bergan._

_Midnight_

_Zodiark walked into a large bedroom. As he did, eleven armored people looked at him. He shook his head in greeting._

"_I call this meeting to order. I know that we're all here, so forget the roll call. As you know, this is the final meeting that will be called. We've all decided that this is the best course of action for averting the use of the new weapons developed by Vayne. We're all aware of the unnecessary pain and suffering that they could cause._

"_After tonight, the Judge Magisters will be no more. After tonight, things we must disappear from history." Zodiark looked at each person in the room. "Leave. Go home to your families. Leave Nabdrodeisiea and never look back. Leave your old name behind._

"_Bergan, you've been the best second I've ever served with. You have to resist the urge to continue fighting in this war. Your fighting style is to well known._

"_Zargabaath, avoid the use of magics. Try to keep you daughter from using it, also._

"_Drace, don't go back to your home at all. You've already had your husband flee the country. Find him._

"_Ghis, there is nothing to be explained to you. You already know what to do._

"_Gabranth, you need to discard you sword. Place it somewhere where it will never be found, or destroy it._

"_Everyone else, you know the drill. Get the hell out this place. One last thing, you must NEVER speak to each other again. None of the Judges moved. Zodiark understood. He walked over to the bed. He looked down at Vayne, who was having a bad dream. Raising his sword, he smiled. "See you in hell, Vayne. With that, he brought the sword down, slicing off the kings head. Now, all but three of the Judges left via teleportation. Those three looked at Zodiark. They all took their helmets._

"_Damnit, Zodiark. You can't expect us to avoid each other forever." Drace was a blue hedgehog with emerald green eyes._

"_Seriously, this is complete shit." Gabranth was blood red echidna._

"_I agree." Bergan's voice was booming, as always. For a cat, he had a very deep voice._

"_Look, I didn't want to do this anymore than you did."_

"_Bullshit. You've been wanting to kill Vayne since he was born." said Drace. For a girl, she was tough, and didn't hesitate to say anything_

"_That's not what I'm talking about." said Zodiark. "I was talking about the measures to keep you safe. From what I've heard, your pregnant as it is. You don't need do to anymore fighting. Your done."_

"_Your pregnant?" asked Gabranth. Drace nodded her head._

"_Look, we need to get the hell out of here. Now. The guards are coming up to wake Vayne right now. I don't want any of us even trying to rule." At this, the other three nodded their heads. _

"_Before we leave, tell us your real name." said Bergan. "You forced us to tell you ours. But none of us ever heard yours." Zodiark laughed._

"_I would tell you, but I don't remember. It's been…what…26 years? I haven't heard it since I became a Judge. Sorry. Goodbye, friends." said Zodiark, turning around and putting his helmet back on. "And despite what I said, I think that we'll meet again someday, many years in the future." With that, Zodiark disappeared. Shortly after, so did the other three._

_A few days later, Zodiark stood on a hill, over looking Nabdrodeisiea. He had discarded his armor for the first time in 26 years. The sun was sitting over the hill. Now, Zodiark watched the city where he spent most of his life burn, with people killing each other left and right. He turned his head, before teleporting away._

_Darius woke up, startled. He looked at the plane he was in. Slowly, he started to pass through it, as though he were a ghost. Tails turned around, just as Darius became completely transparent. The plane flew right through him._

_Darius didn't know what had just happened. He was solid again, and falling very fast. Up ahead, already several miles away, the X-Tornado started to turn around. For some reason, Darius held his arms out like wings, and put his legs together, his tails whipping around in the wind. Slowly, a red aura formed around his body. He came to a hover in midair. As Tails flew by him, Darius waved, clueless as to what was happening._

_Rouge was helping Sabina get ready to leave. As it turned out, Sabina was a pilot, and had a friend with an aircraft that she could borrow. Of course, Sabina knew that it would never be returned, and had explained this to her friend, but he insisted that she take it anyway. Now, the fox was standing outside of the plane, half of her body inside the plane, doing something to the engine. Rouge turned her head, and say Knuckles approaching. He took one look at the plane, and shook his head._

"_Just how are all of us supposed to fit in that? It's only got two seats." he asked, getting ready to tell them to just forget it._

"_Don't worry. I'm a bat remember? I can fly myself."_

"_Yes, but not very fast." said Sabina, coming out of the plane and putting a panel of skin back on the plane. Her fur was black in some places. "This plane gets the best fuel efficiency at 95 throttle, which makes no sense. But that's about 450mph. I would be much quicker if you just sat on his lap." With that, the fox climbed into the cockpit, and started the engine. She let it run for a minute, then shut it off again. "We're leaving as soon as I take a shower and get some of this oil and grease out of my fur." Sabina walked off into the house. Knuckles look at Rouge, who was looking at him._

"_Is there even room?"_

"_Yes, but some is going to have to sit on someone's lap." said Rouge, getting inside and looking around. She got back out and looked at the echidna. "Since you have those sharp spines, I'll be sitting in your lap. Just don't get any funny ideas." _

"_I wouldn't dream of it, you nutty bat."_

_High above the earth, a very old weapon was slowly, but surely, coming back online. The glowing blue hedgehog smiled to himself. This was going to be interesting._


	11. Chapter 11

Judgment chapter 11

Tails slowed down, orbiting the other fox. Darius hovered in midair, just looking around. A red aura surrounded his body, flowing from his feet to his head. His tails, fur, ears, and clothes were being whipped around by the wind, although the rest of his body was completely unaffected by it. Eventually, Tails landed the X-Tornado, looking up and wondering when Darius planned to come down, or if he could.

Darius looked down. The ground was so far down, at least 2,000 feet. He could just spot the X-Tornado's body against the soft, green grass and flowers. He leaned forward slowly, until his body was almost horizontal. He felt himself start to fall. But no fear materialized. He was comfortable, safe. After falling for a short time, he landed on the ground. Tails ran over to him.

"Are you ok?" asked the young fox. Darius looked over to him.

"Of course."

"What do you think happened?"

"Well," begin Darius, sounding unsure. "I think I fell through the plane, instead of falling out of it." Tails looked at the older fox, looking confused. Darius understood why. "Actually, I have no idea. I've got no memory of anything like that ever happening before. Though I do remember a little more now. Odd." Tails seemed unsure of what to say. As the red aura surrounding his body slowly disappeared, the ebony and crimson fox spoke once more. "Perhaps we should get back to your friends." Tails nodded, and got back into the cockpit of the X-Tornado. Darius followed, getting in the seat behind Tails.

They flew for around half an hour, before Tails broke the silence.

"Didn't you say you remembered some more about yourself?" Darius opened his eyes and looked up. "Oh, I'm sorry. Where you sleeping?" asked the young fox apologetically. Darius smiled.

"Not sleeping, thinking…about those memories, actually." Darius was starting to take a liking to the other fox. Besides the fact that he didn't meet many other foxes, Tails was unique. He was the only other fox that Darius could recall seeing with two tails. "I'm not sure what they are memories of, or what they mean, or what triggered them, though I'm assuming that falling through the plane might have something to do with it. It's just…I'm getting the idea that I used to be a solider of some kind." Tails cocked his head back, thinking.

"I don't remember there being any soldiers in several years. An army opposed to Eggman was never formed, at least to knowledge." Tails said the last sentence, putting one arm behind his head and smiling apologetically. "But then again, I don't know everything. I'm pretty busy trying to keep up with Sonic." Darius could see that Tails was no longer holding on to the controls, and wondered if it was safe. But the young fox didn't seem worried. Darius decided that if worst came to worst, he would live. "Anyway, is that all?"

"No. There's something else, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I've got no idea." Darius sighed. For the next few minutes, the two talked about some of Tails' inventions. The subject was brought upon by a question about the X-Tornado.

Some time later, they came into view of the small area where Vanilla's house was. Darius was a little saddened by the destruction that had came over it, as was Tails.

"Tails?"

"What's up?" asked the young fox, curious.

"Is it wrong to kill those you've sworn to protect from being killed… if those who you've sworn to protect are evil and insane? Like if they started a meaningless war against an innocent species that did nothing to them? Is it wrong to kill you king to protect others?" Tails seemed shocked by the question, though in a freaked-out manner. He was silent for a few minutes. He came in to land the X-Tornado in Vanilla's back yard, or what was left of it. As they touched the ground, he spoke. "I don't know." His voice made it seem that he was not only trying to decide if it was right or not, but he also seemed scarred by the question, as well as intrigued. "It's just that…Darius?" Tails turned around to see the other fox staring off in another direction. Tails followed his gaze."

"What the hell?" Darius asked slowly, turning his entire body in the direction he was facing. Tails stuttered. Vanilla's house was on fire.

Darius took off running, followed by Tails. As the got closer, they knew that the fire was not accidental. Espio and Amy were standing side by side. Darius couldn't tell what or who they were looking at. But considering that both of them were in their fighting stances, Darius was willing to bet that whatever it was, it wasn't friendly.

Several balls of fire flew past Espio and Amy. The two dogged them, but were hurt none the less. Darius walked up behind them. They both turned their heads, ready to strike. Upon seeing who it was, they returned their gaze to it's previous target. It was a hedgehog, the color of the fire that he had balled in his hand. Darius could feel anger brewing inside of him.

"Oh ho ho, what's this?" asked the hedgehog in a very cocky voice. He had on a black leather jacket and sunglasses, in addition to the gloves and shoes wore by most of the greater-animals. There was also a sword on his back. "A little fox. Aww…how cute." His voice was taunting now. Darius just looked him in the eyes. "Oh, what are you going to do? Cry at me?" Without saying a word, Darius slipped out of his trench coat, throwing it to Amy. Under it, he had on his typical black, sleeveless shirt. She caught it, looking confused. "Oh no! He took off his coat? Whatever shall I do?" Now, the hedgehog's voice was layered with sarcasm.

"Go ahead. Throw it at me." said Darius, smiling and holding his arms out in a taunting gesture. "But be warned," he continued, his voice going from friendly to threatening as he spoke. "I'm going to shove that fireball down you fucking throat." Near the end of the sentence, his voice became filled with hatred. The hedgehog was angry now.

"Your dead!" he yelled, throwing a massive fireball.

Amy and Espio hit the ground. It was by far the biggest one yet. The smaller ones had been enough to hurt them; one this big would kill.

Darius held his hand out in front of him. A large half-sphere formed around him, leaving his back unprotected. It was composed of several small, transparent, just barely visible light blue hexagons, with red in the rims. The fireball slammed into it.

The result was spectacular.

All of the fire was shot up into the air, completely deflected by the mysterious blue field. Darius put his hand down, the transparent blue field fading from view completely. The fiery hedgehog backed up, slowly. He was in disbelief. He started launching fireball after fireball at Darius. They all exploded, creating a large cloud of smoke. As the hedgehog waited for the smoke to clear, he put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. No one had EVER survived anything like that.

Darius came out of the smoke, the blue barrier fading back into in visibility. He didn't look happy.

"What!?" yelled the fiery hedgehog. He backed up, the fear showing on his face. He drew his sword, preparing for a very hard fight. His confidence increased when he felt the handle of the sword in his hands. It was a simple, but effective, katana, augmented by the power of fire. He went completely pail when Darius laughed. It was an evil, deep, cruel laugh.

"Your just a pyrotechnic, not even a true magic user. Pathetic." Darius looked like he could kill anything that got in his way, but his rage was cold, and controlled.

Panicking, the hedgehog held out a small, white object, looking like he was drawing power from it.

Several yards away, Amy recognized it.

"It's a Chaos Emerald!' she said, getting up and backing up. Darius looked at it, also recognizing it. He looked the fiery hedgehog in the eyes. The hedgehog lunged, his sword above his head. He was going to try to cut Darius down. The hedgehog picked up speed. Darius lunged.

The two collided hard, with the very loud, sharp sound of metal hitting metal at a high speed. To everyone watching, the next move of the fight was a blur. To the hedgehog, it seemed to happen at a speed just above normal.

Darius had shot his left hand up, backhanding the incredibly sharp blade, the impact of which resulted in the loud twang. Faster than the hedgehogs eyes could track, Darius' right hand connected with the hedgehog's chin. The sword flew out of the hedgehogs' hand as he sailed straight up into the air.

The loud crack of Darius' fist connecting to the hedgehog's chin was misleading.

Tails watched as the fiery hedgehog flew at least seven feet into the air. As he came back down, Darius launched into a corkscrew kick, twisting his entire body upside down and doing a complete spin. His foot connected with the hedgehog's stomach as he fell. The impact send the hedgehog flying into a rock. Darius landed with his legs spread and one hand on the ground. The other one was behind his back.

The fiery hedgehog lay against the rock, slowly breathing. He was in a lot of pain.

"Damnit. That fox is strong." he said. He tried to get up, but found that he was too weak to do so. He sat there, waiting for the fox to deliver his deathblow. But as the fox got closer, he saw that it was holding his sword. The hedgehog gasped. To be killed by his own blade… He couldn't decide if it was an insult or an honor. However, the fox took the sword by it's blade, and shoved into the ground. He squatted down in front of the hedgehog.

Darius looked the hedgehog in the eyes. The expression on the hedgehog was one of pain and fear, but also that of respect. However, disgust was also apparent. Darius grabbed the hedgehog by the collar of his jacket, and hoisted him into a standing position, standing at the same time. He did it one handed.

The hedgehog's face was level with Darius' though that was because Darius was holding him up off the ground. After a few seconds of being almost nose to nose, Darius set the hedgehog on his feet.

"I don't think that there would be a point in killing you." said Darius, his voice very evil and heavy. "So, tell me, what where you thinking? Attacking those who had done nothing to you?" The hedgehog looked him in the eye.

"I…was doing…as I had…been paid." muttered the hedgehog. His very weak and quiet, due to the shortness of breath caused by the powerful kick to the stomach. Darius turned his head, and motioned for the others to come over to him. Sonic, who had been lying on his back, trying to catch his breath, came over, as well as Amy, who was still holding the coat, and Espio. The others were trying to put out the fire in the house. Darius looked at it. It would be easier just to let it burn its self out.

"What should I do with him?" Sonic, Amy, and Espio all seemed surprised by the question. "What should I do with him?" he asked again. "He's a mercenary, though for who I don't know." The hedgehog, who had now caught his breath spoke up.

"My name's Vann. I was paid by someone to eliminate Sonic the hedgehog, as well as Amy Rose, Knuckles the echidna, and Miles Prower. I didn't get a name. He paid cash." Darius turned his attention back to the hedgehog.

"What did he look like, and where did you meet him at?" Facing the fox, Vann responded.

"He was the size of the blue one over there, Sonic." he said, point to Sonic. "His quills were different. He was a light shade of blue, and looked like he was glowing slightly. He came to me as I was walking out of a bar, delivering a message to the owner. He asked me if I wanted the money. I told him I did, and he handed it to me right there. It was at least 50,000. He told me to assassinate Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and Tails." Darius suddenly looked like he had figured something out.

"How did his spines set, how did he move, and what was he wearing?" Vann seemed a little surprised by the question.

"Umm…his spines…" said Vann, trying to remember. "I think they were point straight up. He moved and acted like he was an instructor of some kind, probably a complex martial arts teacher. All he had on were gloves, shoes, and a cape that used a golden chain to connect around the neck. I think he also had a bracelet on his left wrist." Darius' face was twisted in to disbelief, amazement, horror, and panic. He was obviously having bad realization. He faced the ground. Tails now came over, joining them. "He told that he wanted me to do it because it was what the planet wanted. He said that-"

"She was afraid for her children. They had become to dangerous and too powerful. She is tired of watching them suffer." Darius was breathing heavily now. He had interrupted the fiery hedgehog, and now was completely silent.

"Wow. How did you know that?" asked Vann. "It was word for word, I think." Darius looked up from the ground.

"I…I know him. Nazo." Everyone looked at him, confused. Everyone except Tails. The young fox asked a confused sounding question.

"I thought you said he was dead." Now, everyone's gaze turned to Tails. They were all confused, other than Darius.

"I thought he was. But there was something about that crazy fool…something that led me to believe that he was much older than he had told me."

"When did you meet him, anyway?" asked Vann. He was less scared of the fox than he had been. He was sure that he wouldn't be killed.

"I…I want to say it was 40 years ago." replied the somewhat stunned fox. Another wave of memories had came back to him. "But, I don't think I'm that old." He remained silent for a few seconds. Then he looked at Vann. "Do you want to live?"

"Ye…yes." stuttered the hedgehog. So much for friendly. The fox looked at him. His expression was unreadable.

"Good. You'll do as your told. If Nazo is as strong as he was then, then we'll need every ounce of strength that we can get."

Darius took his coat back from Amy, and put it on. He walked off, requesting not to be bothered. However, he did ask Tails, Sonic, and Vann to come along. Apparently, they were needed.

Amy watched as Sonic walked away. She had woken up from having a terrible nightmare that morning, only to then have to fight to keep anyone from getting hurt. She was tired.

But Sonic never seemed to get tired. His arm was keeping him from doing much fighting, and it was showing on his stress levels. It seemed that he needed to keep busy to stay relaxed. She was beginning to understand the feeling.

The problem was that Sonic's attitude towards her was starting to take it's toll. He wouldn't date her, hug her, tell her he loved her, kiss her, or even just stay with her and keep her company. She wanted him to acknowledge her, to love her. Or, at least she had used too. She still wanted his love, but she was also wanting more. Love wasn't enough for her anymore. She needed someone that she could always count on. Sonic…he was just too inconsistent. He was happy saving the world. He never seemed to have time for her, or anyone else that didn't want to compete with him in some way.

She had tried, and tried very hard to think of something that she could challenge him to. But nothing ever came to her. She knew that she would have to beat him to get him to really notice her. All of this led her to ask herself two questions. One was about Shadow. Just how alike were Sonic and Shadow? At first, she had thought that Shadow was Sonic. But now, as she got to know them both better, she could see that they were very different, but at the same time very alike. It was difficult to think about. The other question was much different.

Why did she miss Shadow?

"Hey!" called Darius, who was now returning with Sonic, Tails, and Vann following him. "Do you have any idea where I could get a hold of a super-weapon?"


	12. Chapter 12

_Judgment chapter 12_

_Amy looked at Darius, somewhat confused. The question had been straightforward, and she had heard it clearly. But it still didn't make much sense to her. Her mind was caught up, thinking about Sonic and Shadow. He looked at him for a second, then shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't sure. Everyone was asked the question, though no one was sure. Super weapons had been Eggmans' specialty. Now that he was dead, no one knew._

"_Why does it matter?" asked Cream, realizing that no one had said anything about why. Darius looked at her._

"_Nazo. That twisted basterd." Cream seemed somewhat shocked by the ebony and crimson fox's language. Darius took no notice of this, as he was deep in thought. "I've already told Tails some of this._

"_Several years ago, though I can't remember how long ago it was, I was kidnapped. I wasn't a child, though. I don't know how old I actually was, but think I was…at least 17. I just wish I knew hold I was now…" said the fox, his mind drifting away from the topic. He snapped back to it. "I escaped after a few days. I was hurt badly, hungry, and lost, much as I was when I woke up a few weeks ago, though then I wasn't hurt._

"_I wondered around for a while, eating what I could find. I remember that my left arm was broken, and that one of my legs was not in the best shape. Nazo found me in the middle of a road, halfway to nowhere. He took me with him to his house. At the time, I didn't know why, or care. I was alive, and that was all that mattered. He let me stay there until I was healed up enough to pay him back. What he wanted was a student, someone to train. I didn't know why, but I accepted. _

"_Train me he did. I spent a lot of my time running, climbing, and fighting. He was a martial arts instructor and a legendary one at that. He told me that he thought I had potential when he found me. He was yet to try to train a fox. I thought it was slightly stereotypical of him. Apparently, foxes were regarded as weak fighters. Not to long after my training started, we had our first one on one fight. He was going easy on me, seeing what I was capable of. Big mistake._

"_I was angry, fueled by hatred, though not for him in particular. I was very mad about the rumor that foxes were weak fighters. At the time, his best student was a hedgehog. If I could last as long against Nazo as the hedgehog did, I though I would kill the rumor. Things didn't go as planned._

"_He didn't expect my skill to be so high. He had often told me during training that I was a different person when I was fighting, like there were two personalities in me, one of which was only present during combat. I knocked him well out of the ring on the first round. This impressed him, but he kept his cool. He started to go harder and harder, until he snapped and went full on me. Very rarely did he lose, and he wasn't about to lose to a mere student of his. _

"_He landed a quick series of punches and kicks on me before I lashed out. The impact of the hit was enough to throw him through a solid wall made of stone. That more or less killed the rumor that foxes couldn't fight. Nazo wasn't happy. No one had ever hit him that hard other than a demon that he had killed on order from…someone. He pulled himself up, not intending to be beat _

"_He came at me faster than I had ever seen him move. But he couldn't touch me. I was just to fast. Before long, I landed another blow on him. It didn't have the effect of the previous blows, but it was enough to stun him for a second. I took opportunity and kicked him out of the ring again." Everyone was very interested, and listing intently. Everyone except for Tails. Something was bothering him. Something didn't quite make sense. He had seen this story before, but something just didn't make sense._

"_After the fight was over, he came to me in my room. I was looking at myself in the mirror, wondering how I had won. He walked over to my bed, and sat down. Looking at me, he spoke, smiling as he did. 'The earth is tired of her children fighting pointlessly. We never stop. Soon, she will make us.' Or, at least I think that's what he said. He continued talking to me for a while, asking me various questions about the fight. He didn't believe that he had lost in a fair fight, so he tried every means he could think of to test me. I was willing to go through these tests, as I had no idea how I had won. But we never found the reason. Eventually, he challenged me to a re-match. I accepted it, wondering if I could win again. _

"_The second fight came and went quickly. Not only did I win it, I did so without any effort. I walked all over him. A third fight came._

"_This time, he came into the arena glowing. I had no idea what to think. He quickly teleported behind me, and hit me very hard in the back. I almost flew out of the arena. But I managed to stay in. The fight just kept going and going. Finally, he corned me. I was scarred. I had it in my mind that he was going to try to kill me. I felt energy surge through me. He got within about six feet of me. I focused it, and let out a blast. He was knocked out, and several people in the stands were also injured. That was the first experience with that energy that I remember."_

"_That's impossible," said Tails, looking the older fox in the eye. Darius returned the look. "That happened over 500 years ago. I read about it in a book I found." Darius looked very surprised._

"_How old am I?" he wondered out loud. Amy turned to Tails, questioning him openly. She said nothing, but the look on her face was all the question the young fox needed._

"_I don't understand it either," said Tails. "But I do know that happened over 500 years ago. I read about the rumor about foxes not being able to fight. I did some research, and came across that particular story. While I admit that it's odd that you had the same name as the fox, I just don't think you're the same person. I'm sorry." Darius was looking at the younger fox. Everyone, other than the two foxes suddenly got the impression that Tails was about to get hurt. Sonic stepped in-between the two, one armed raised, facing Darius. His other arm was still in a cast. _

_Amy felt something start to gather inside of her. She felt it growing, pulsing through her veins. A green aura started to form around her gloved fingers. She found it to be very pleasant, warm, and somehow comforting. Cream noticed this. _

"_Amy, what's happening to your finger?" she squeaked, somewhat alarmed. Everyone turned and looked, other than Darius, who hadn't heard Cream. When Sonic's gaze turned, Darius noticed it and followed. Just as he did, green energy shot from her hand, stunning her for a second. It flew out, colliding with Sonic and Vann. Vann fell over, scared to death. Sonic, on the other hand, just looked at his broken arm, surprised. He was even more surprised when the cast fell off. Everyone was either looking at Amy, or Vann. Darius and Tails were picking the fiery hedgehog up of the ground. Cream was just standing at Amy. _

"_Um…guys?" _

"_What? Sonic! Your cast!" Amy squealed, running over to Sonic. He was flexing his arm, amazed. It was fine. There weren't any scars where the doctors had cut into him to mend the bones. "Your arm…" she said, stupefied._

"_It feels fine," said the blue hedgehog, who was now punching the air. _

"_Amy," begin Darius, grabbing her arm and pulling it out to look at it, her palm facing up. She winced a little at the sudden action, though she was not in pain. "I think you may have some magic in you. But that was no basic cure spell. That had to have been cura. Or," he said, pausing slightly. "Your just really fast." She was now looking at her hand, getting excited._

"_If you don't remember how old you are, then how did you know that?" asked Vann._

"_No idea," said the ebony and crimson fox, scratching his chin._

"_Guys, I'm hungry," said Charmy, completely breaking everyone's train of thought._

"_Quit squirming, Rouge."_

"_It's not my fault that you're not very comfortable to sit on." The red echidna sighed. This bat was going to drive him insane._

"_Settle down, you two." A stunning snow-white fox with red streaks in her fur climbed into the cockpit of the plane. "I can't break up any fights between you two. When we are flying, I'm going to close the sound door behind my seat so I can listen to the engine with out being disturbed." The fox started the engine of the plane, shutting the main door as she did so. After a few quick checks, she started to taxi out onto the runway, which was little more than a concrete strip in the middle of a field. Rouge looked at the red echidna. He was looking out the window, trying to avoid looking at the bat sitting in his lap. He was getting very defensive for some reason. Suddenly, the plane lurched. At full power, it had an incredible amount of thrust. It was a prop job, but it was very powerful and streamlined. _

_Sabina had explained to them why the plane had such an odd configuration. It was originally a recon plane. However, the current owner had bought it and had it refitted for him and his daughter to fly in. Now, his daughter had moved away, the man had no use for the old plane, and was happy to allow to Sabina to fly it as long as he could ride in the passenger seat. She didn't mind at all, and flew often. But the man had bought another plane, a jet fighter. He now flew it instead of the one that he had bought for he and his daughter to fly. He was happy to allow the snow-white fox to have it. She was like a second daughter to him, he said. She didn't mind at all, having never known her real parents. She was actually attached to the man, and treated him somewhat like a father._

_Now, as they she flew down the runway, she wondered if she would ever see the man again. The though left her mind as she pulled up on the joystick, quickly putting the plane in a very steep climb._

"_Damn! Even Tails flew better than this!" yelled Knuckles, as he braced himself against the walls of the cockpit. In the front seat, he heard Sabina laughing. She enjoyed this. She suddenly did a back flip, leveling out afterwards. During the flip, Knuckles found himself in a very awkward position. Rouge hadn't had the chance to really hold onto anything because of the odd way she was sitting. Instead of sitting facing forwards, she had opted to sit with her entire body pointing out the right window of the small cockpit. During the part of the flip where the plane was completely vertical and rising, Rouge fell back onto him, her body pressed very tightly to his. She remained there until the plane leveled out. _

_Both Knuckles and Rouge were slightly shaken after this. Sabina was laughing like she had just heard the funniest joke in the world. The plane continued to pick up speed. As it did, Sabina told them that she was going to close the sound door, and that if they needed anything, just to knock on it. With that, she closed it._

_Knuckles pushed Rouge gently off of his face. The bat had been just shaken enough by the sudden scare to actually hold on to the red echidna. When she realized that it was over, she looked away, her cheeks turning red. She hadn't meant to grab him like that. The echidna looked out the window, not wanting to think about the bat, or how long they would be like this._

_The silence continued for quite some time. When Sabina made a course change, Rouge got a good view of the most beautiful sunset she had ever seen. Everything was forgotten._

_The sun was casting an incredible yellow and orange stream of light that flowed over the land. The clouds were orange, with some yellow and white mixed in here and there. The sun was red. Rouge awed at the sight. Suddenly, she felt herself move. At first, she didn't know why, but quickly figured it out. Knuckles looked out the window to see what the bat was staring at. He took a good long look at it, trying to keep a single thought out of his mind. Or, more specifically, a single person._

_Rouge was driving him crazy. Urges were starting to hit him. He wanted to talk to her, to be friends with her. He knew there was something else, something that he wanted to avoid, though he couldn't figure out why. He felt her eyes on him. He resisted the urge to turn around and look at her._

_He wanted to kiss her._

_Unknown to him, the bat was thinking the same thing. As she sat in his lap, in a somewhat awkward position, she found it hard not to look at him. Slowly, he returned to his original position. Once there, he closed his eyes. Rouge couldn't help it. She started to reach for his had. The echidna opened his eyes, only to see the bat looking at her hand as if she was in disbelief about something._

"_What? Ruined your nails?" asked the red echidna, hoping that she wasn't about to freak out and have some sort of panic attack. He had never seem her do it, but she was a girl, and he had seen several of them freak out over nothing. Amy was the first example to come to his mind._

"_No. It's nothing. Nothing that would matter to you, anyway." answered the bat. He could tell that she was trying to hide something._

"_What is it, Rouge?"_

"_I told you, it's nothing." Knuckles stared at the bat, skeptical. He didn't believe her. Then, the thoughts about her came back. He felt an almost uncontrollable urge to reach out and gently stroke the side of her face. It was getting harder and harder to do. He returned his gaze to the floor, doing everything he could to ignore the bat._

_Rouge lost. She couldn't help herself. She reached out and put her hand on the echidna's. Knuckles' eyes shot open, already focused on his hand. He just looked at it, then slowly to Rouge. Her face was far redder than the red echidna had ever seen, far redder than his fur and quills. Her eyes met his. She didn't say a word, nor did her grip on his hand loosen._

"_Um…Rouge? What are you doing?" he asked, keeping a close eye on her face. She didn't say anything, but looked like she was being tortured, her eyes sad and desperate, wanting something very badly. The red echidna just looked at her. "Rouge, are you crying?" asked the echidna, looking surprised. Sure enough, large tears were starting to form her large eyes. He had never seen the bat cry about anything. She only turned her head away from him, trying to take her hand off of his. However, he grabbed it, preventing it. She turned her head back to his, the tears flowing._

"_What does it matter to you? All you ever do is cross your arms and get all defensive. It's not like your going to do anything different." Knuckles was somewhat shocked by this. He let go of her hand, and crossed his arms, getting defensive. "See?" she said, a little louder than normal, sounding hurt as well as upset. "You're doing it again." This time the bat turned away from him, sobbing to her self. However, it was hard to escape the echidna. She was sitting in his lap after all._

_Knuckles looked at her. He was confused. He didn't know what the bat felt. Now, as she tried to get as far away from his as possible, which was not much due to the small size of the cockpit, he started to wonder if she felt how he did. He couldn't bring himself to say anything. The fear was building up inside of him. He could tell that she was upset over him. Her words were burning a hole in him, driving him crazy. Without thinking, he grabber her by the waist, and flipper her around. _

_The surprised bat looked at the echidna. She was now lying on her back, which was lying on his knees. Her feet were pressed up against the glass of the right window. It wasn't comfortable. She got ready to hit him extremely hard when he leaned in, his nose almost touching hers. She stopped in mid-punch. She didn't know what to do. Her body went limp, giving away all possible resistance. Knuckles could have used her like a puppet. Instead, his eyes met hers, questioning her. She was shaking now, her breathing getting faster and faster, her eyes darting between his and his lips. Her heart was beating faster than it ever had before._

_He began to rub his nose against the side of her face. The bat was a prisoner to the echidna, and she didn't care one bit. She felt him rise back up. Their eyes met once more, before the echidna lowered his head. She let out a gasp. She could feel his lips, almost touching hers. He stayed like this for a brief moment, his lips quivering. Or were they hers? She couldn't tell. Then, he leaned in all the way. His lips met hers._

_Time seemed to stop. He kissed her deeply. She couldn't move, her body lost to the incredible sensation of their lips touching. He broke the kiss, breathing heavily. She felt herself getting dizzy, but remembered to breathe herself._

_Knuckles' face was very close to hers. Her eyes filled with tears once again. But this time, they were tears of joy. Without saying a word, he leaned in, kissing her again. When they broke apart this time, they just looked at each other._

_Knuckles sat up, the bat still lying paralyzed in his lap. She slowly regained control of her body, and sat up. She didn't say anything, but just looked at the red echidna. He seemed as shocked as she was. Without saying a word, she leaned up against his shoulder, pressing her head against it. She felt the echidna lay his head on hers, wrapping his arm tightly around her. She did the same, nuzzling his chest. She no longer cared. She felt like she was about to explode. _

"_Knuckles," she said softly, still crying, pressing even closer to him. "I love you. I love you so much." The tears were building up now, their pace quickening. All she wanted was to hear him say it back to her. "I love you too," he said, his face pressed against her head. She could feel him kissing her head gently and repeatedly. She could feel him gently stroking her arm. She reached out and grabbed his free hand. It closed around hers for a second, the pressed it against his chest. He let go. She was about to try to hold it again, when she him place it on her lower back. He held her tighter. She got a handful of his fur with the hand that was pressed against his chest, holding it tightly. Slowly, the bat fell asleep. The red echidna looked at her. She was so beautiful. And now, she was his. Knuckles laughed gently to himself._

"_Wow. Can this day get any better?"_


	13. Chapter 13

Introduction to Nightmare

Part B.

Rouge screamed. Amy was lying on the ground in a pool of blood, a very large hole in her midsection. Sonic was dead. He also had a large hole in him. There was a trail of blood leading away from the two bodies. Knuckles looked at her. Grabbing her hand, he took off running. The bat ran with him. They continued at full speed, trying to escape, when they found Tails. There were several large cuts on his body. The life was slowly fading from the young fox's eyes.

"NO! Tails! Wake up!" begged the echidna, cradling the dying fox in his arms. The fox looked up, his eyes not focusing. He tried to lift his hand, but couldn't.

"Knuckles," he said weakly. "Leave me. Just…get out of here." Tails' was bleeding badly. Whoever had done this had been strong.

"No, Tails. We're getting you out of here."

"No," said the fox, tears starting to fall from his eyes, as he got closer to death. "Leave. Get Rouge out of here." With that, the fox's body went limp. His breathing stopped. Knuckles turned his head to Rouge, tears in his eyes. She was crying as well. Still holding the lifeless body of his friend, Knuckles started running. He had to get Rouge to safety. The bat kept up with him.

They ran for nearly ten minutes before they ran into Sabina. The fox didn't say a word.

"Come on!" yelled Rouge. The snow-white fox ran beside the bat. Rouge now saw that there was blood in the fox's fur. She was bleeding from a cut on her upper shoulder. But her face showed no pain.

"And just where are you going?" The three stopped. Someone walked out from the shadows. It was a fox, dressed in all black, with a black trench coat and black boots. His fur was as black as Shadow's, with red streaks running though it. His bangs were very long, and looked a lot like quills. His eyes were also red. He was holing a large sword in one hand. The sword had odd markings all over it. It was completely clean, and very shiny. "I don't recall seeing any of you in here before. But not to worry. You won't be leaving here," said the fox, smiling. He reeked of evil.

Sabina lunged at the other fox, holding a katana in her hands. Rouge was dumbfounded. Where had she got that? Knuckles laid Tails' body on the floor, and followed Sabina in her lunge. The other fox was ready. His sword collided with that of the snow-white fox, easily stopping hers. He just laughed, and kicked her back. In a fluid motion, he hit Knuckles with the broad side of his sword, sending the red echidna flying in to Rouge, who was in mid-lunge. The ebony and crimson fox walked over to Sabina.

"My my. Your quite pretty, my dear. I almost regret doing this." The ebony and crimson fox placed his blade against her chest, just below above her abdomen. He pushed it in, gently. She screamed in pain, her face twisting from the agony. He gently laughed. "Sshh. Just be quiet." He bent down, pressing the sword in even father. It glided though her body as if it were air. He hugger her, gently, still pressing the blade into her. She let out a final, earsplitting cry, tears flowing from her eyes. The snow-white fox's body went limp. The ebony and crimson foxed gently closer her eyes, kissing her on the forehead as he did.

He stood up, his attention now focused on the echidna and the bat. Out of nowhere, the echidna ran the katana through the chest of the fox. It went all the way through, though there was still quite a bit of blade separating the fox and the echidna. The fox smiled, and took a step forward. The echidna's jaw dropped, his face twisting in horror. The fox continued forward until the handle of he sword was almost in his chest. His face was inches from the echidnas.

"I'm afraid that's not going to work, Knuckles. You can't kill me. I'm just a spirit, not actually living." The echidna jumped back, kicking the fox in the face, who laughed. He pulled the katana out of his chest, throwing it against the wall. He reached back for his sword. Turning to face Knuckles, he swung the sword very fast. A thin line of blood flew off of the tip of the sword, forming a blade of sorts in the air.

Knuckles was cut in half at the waist by the blade of blood. The fox now turned to Rouge.

"Your friend put up quite the fight, Miss Rouge. Are you going to try to fight for your life, or will you just surrender and accept defeat?" The bat looked at him, backing into the wall. She knew that she was going to die.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, tears in her eyes. She had lost her will to live.

"Miss Rouge," he said, with a kind voice. "Why are you crying? I don't understand."

"You're a heartless killer!" she yelled. "You kill for no reason!"

"Miss Rouge, you are terribly mistaken," said the fox politely, keeping his voice calm and kind. "I'm not the heartless killer you make me out to be. I'm merely the Keeper of the Precepts. It's my duty to make sure that none ever leave here alive. I really do apologize. That fox friend of yours was very beautiful. I almost wish I could have kept her alive. I do get lonely down here, and it's been years since I've enjoyed the comfort and pleasure of a woman. I don't suppose you would be interested in reminding me before your death?"

"I hope you burn hell." The fox smiled.

"Very feisty. Oh well. Women are just a waste. They don't know their place anymore. I do wish I could teach you a harsh lesson, but I'm afraid I'm not allowed to do that." With that, the fox lifted his massive sword. "Goodbye, Miss Rouge." The sword came down on her neck.

Sabina heard Rouge's scream above the roar of the engine. She opened the sound door.

"Rouge, calm down!" yelled Knuckles. Sabina turned her head, trying to see what was going on behind her, though didn't have any success. "Rouge!" The echidna's voice was hard to hear over the roar of the engine. Sabina cut it, dropping the power low enough to hear. Rouge was crying very loudly and very hard.

"He killed us!" cried the bat. Her face was pressed against Knuckles chest, making the words somewhat hard to understand.

"What's going on back there?" asked Sabina, half yelling to be heard.

"She had a nightmare," called the echidna. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." With that, Sabina closed the sound door and ran the engine back up to optimum power.

The only sound that Knuckles could hear now was that of Rouge crying into his chest fur. He was shaking very badly, and crying. He pulled her as close as he could, trying to give her whatever comfort he had to offer. She calmed down after about thirty minutes of crying, and fell back asleep. Knuckles did the same.

Up in the front part of the cockpit, Sabina checked a G.P.S. readout that she had just received. They were getting close to where they needed to be. The plane had gotten record fuel mileage. She came into approach at an airstrip. She landed, picked of a full fuel load, and took off again. At this rate, they would make it to their destination as the sun came up. Sabina smiled. She love flying, but was always glad when long flights were over.

The plane roared back up to cruising altitude. She looked at the power indicator. It was indicating that the engine was running at optimum. They would arrive as the sun rose.


	14. Chapter 14

Judgment chapter 14

Shadow turned his head. The city hadn't change a bit, at least as far is its personality was concerned. The people were still a bunch of morons, more concerned about themselves than anything else. The only upside is that there were no humans. Shadow shook his head at the thought. The humans had been a problem. But they were gone now, never to return.

He had almost found his target, a weasel named Knack. Shadow had entrusted a large amount of heavy weaponry to the weasel. Now, he wanted some of it back. The only problem was that Knack never stayed in the same place for long. He didn't much care for the law, though he followed it more often than not. The cops weren't worth his trouble.

The two had meet under slightly odd circumstances. During Shadow's long disappearance, he found himself in this city. It was quite a ways away from the normal hideout of Sonic's gang, and suited Shadow just fine. He just sat around all day, watching people do whatever it was they did. He first ran into Knack during a fight.

The weasel had been inside a gun store, looking at automatic weapons. He had a place in his heart for a very rare version of the .50 caliber automatic sniper rifle. Only a few had been made, and he had only used one once, though loved it as soon as he squeezed off the first shot. Now, he was trying to find something that felt like the big .50 that he had used.

A group of gangsters had shown up, obviously getting ready to rob the gun store. Shadow had laughed when he saw them. They were pathetic, and looked very stupid, especially with guns. However, more showed up, and their overall numbers increased from three to seven. Shadow decided to stand back and watch, until thee of the gangsters dropped before they even got in the door. A very large weapon was impaling the car. Shadow smiled, and attacked.

Inside the store, Knack was only doing what the shopkeeper had told him. There was no question about the intent of the gangsters, and the cops had already been called. There was little need to explain himself as he teleported into the gun store. Both the weasel and the store clerk, who was also a weasel, though a much different looking one, took little notice of the crimson and ebony hedgehog as he picked up a pistol and took a shot.

Long story short, the gangsters were all either in jail or in the hospital. Knack, Shadow, and the stores clerk were simply left to be. From there, Shadow and Knack kept running into each other. Eventually, the two became friends, though they weren't very close.

Now, Shadow was hunting the weasel down to get a couple of weapons back. It didn't take long to find him, now that he was in the general area. Soon, the little weasel was in his sight.

"Shadow!" called Knack, happy to see the hedgehog. Though Shadow didn't show much care for him, Knack was fairly fond of the hedgehog.

"Knack," was the hedgehog's response.

"I'm glad you're here. I've got some people coming later, and I don't think they intend to pay for their…merchandise. I was hoping you could make sure that nothing goes wrong."

"I'm only here for my guns, Knack." The hedgehogs voice was not a friendly one. Knack backed away, though not very far. He didn't look happy, and went into a little shop. Shadow followed. Knack appeared out from behind the counter, holing a large, carefully wrapped package. Shadow took it, opening it carefully. Inside it were two very specially crafted handguns and a large, very powerful assault rifle that Knack had had made especially for the hedgehog as a sign of gratitude. It was probably the assault rifle that started causing their friendship to become permanent, instead of just temporary.

Shadow picked up the riffle, holding it fondly. It was an insanely powerful weapon, though Shadow wasn't sure what caliber it was. He DID know that it would punch a hole in four inches of steel, shooting three rounds a second, with considerable accuracy at over one mile. Knack had told him that the fox who made it was a genius, though he was almost impossible to find. He wasn't wanted for anything, other than requests. He owed Knack a favor, and help up it. The result was sitting in Shadow's hands.

The handguns were also dangerous, though nothing compared to the assault riffle. They were .44 caliber, but had much more power than any other .44 on the planet. Knack could shoot the handguns, but only if he held one in both hands.

"Where are you going?" asked the weasel. He didn't want Shadow to leave yet. The people that were coming would probably kill him.

"I've got a planet to save."

"Shadow, don't leave. Wait for those people to come, then make sure they don't kill me." Shadow turned around. He didn't want to stay here, helping Knack. However, the weasel had kept his weapons safe. Reluctantly, Shadow turned around. He didn't have to wait near as long as he thought he would. Three cars pulled up.

Several large bulldogs got out, each one of them with a gun around their necks. One of them was holding a suitcase. Shadow followed Knack inside, with the bulldogs close behind him. They got down to business, with Shadow back in the corner.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion outside, followed by several more. Shadow ran out the door, followed by the bulldogs. There was something huge, rampaging through the city. Shadow used chaos control, teleporting up to the top of a tall building. He didn't believe what he saw.

It was another one of those creatures that had wrecked Vanilla's house. Without a word, he pulled the trigger on the riffle, letting of a single shot. From over half a mile away, a large hole appeared in the tail of the creature. Shadow saw a flash below him. He looked down.

Knack was reloading a large rocket launcher that a bulldog was holding. On the side of the tube, the words 'T.O.W. MISSILE' could be clearly seen. Shadow watched as the missile hit the creature, creating a cloud of smoke. Shadow waited for the smoke to clear, but another missile impacted before it did. Shadow teleported back down, realizing that he could see clearly down on the ground. A couple of bulldogs came out of the store, one of them holding a large mini-gun. Knack turned around, and looked at it. He walked over to the bulldog, yelling something. The bulldog holding it shook his head, and flipped a switch. He and the other two that were following him got in a truck that was parked nearby, speeding off toward the creature. Shadow didn't think that bullets that small would do much damage. But, any damage done would help…or just piss it off.

"What the hell is that thing?" yelled Knack, as Shadow approached.

"No idea," said Shadow, handing Knack his riffle and pistols. The weasel looked like he might pass out. He was actually scared to touch the riffle. "The last one of those I fought was tough. It was daylight then." They heard the sound of a jet roaring overhead. Shadow looked up, just able to make out the outline of the X-Tornado. There was a loud crack behind them. They turned around, Knack holding the gun up.

Darius had landed behind them. Knack stared in amazement at the fox. Shadow just smiled.

"Took you long enough," said the hedgehog. The fox just smiled, leaving Knack even more confused. The fox looked Knack in the eye, sending chills down the weasels spin. The fox smiled, throwing Knack of guard.

"You're going to need a howitzer to hurt that thing. It might be wise just back off and let us deal with it." Knack just shook his head, as the bulldog with the T.O.W. Missile launch let off another missile. Darius looked at it, seemingly amused. "That might work too."

"Knack, I need anozer missile. I think zat vee are getting somewhere," said the bulldog, with a strange accent. Shadow looked at the bulldog, the to Knack.

"Don't get in our way." With that, Shadow took off, Darius close behind him.

Sonic jumped off of the X-Tornado. Tails had flown it in dangerously close to the creature. It had shot its tail at the X-Tornado, almost hitting it. The blue hedgehog used a homing attack, doing little damage to it. It lunged at him, much faster than he remembered the other one doing. It hit him, knocking him into a car. Looking up, Sonic saw that it was about to bring its leg down on him. But before it got there, something exploded right beside it. Taking the chance to escape, Sonic looked up. Tails had shot it, leaving a few small holes in the leg. The explosion had come from a missile. Out of nowhere, Shadow appeared, launching a wave of Chaos Spheres at this creature. These did some damage, scorching the outer shell of the creature.

Darius leaned forward, allowing himself to fall. He was on the tallest building in the city, which just happened to be very close to the creature. He needed speed, and lots of it. He got what he needed, and then some. A red aura formed around his body, and he focused it. Less than 50 feet above the creature, he unleashed it. A blinding white light erupted from his body, engulfing the creature. The effect was much the same as the previous time. However, there was little apparent damage to the creature this time. It hit Darius in midair with its tail, putting him inside a building, taking out several windows in the process.

"What!?" yelled Sonic, clearly in disbelief. The sun was starting to rise over in the east. Shadow's normally emotionless face seemed to say the same thing. Several hundred feet above them, Tails let another barrage of cannon fire lose, shaking the frame of the X-Tornado. These did considerable damage to the surrounding area, though the creature was left unharmed.

Darius picked himself up out of the remains of the desk he had landed in. Several people were around him. One of them asked if he was ok, pointing to a small cut on his head. Darius stood up.

"Yea. I'm alright. Are any of you hurt?"

"No. We're all fine," said a yellow cat.

"Good. Get everyone the hell out of here. No point in dying." With that, Darius walked over to the window, jumping out. He landed, then ran over to Sonic, who was in mid-attack. This creature was different. Darius realized that it was older.

"What's going on?" yelled Sonic. "I can't hurt it."

"I think this one's older than the last one," yelled Darius in response. "It's a little bigger and a lot stronger." Darius attacked the leg, hoping to do some damage. However, he did none.

Knack looked at the gun his hands. Shadow's riffle was strong enough to penetrate steel. There was no way this creature would survive. The weasel braced himself against a wall. Several cars were on fire, though there was no way to know whose fault it was. He aimed at the head, and pulled the trigger. Less than two seconds later, half a mile away, two holes appeared in the creature's head. Knack knew that he would never shoot Shadow's gun again. His shoulder was broken by the massive kick on the gun. He fell to the ground, passing out from the pain.

"Damn!" yelled Darius, who had been in front of the creatures head when the rounds hit. There were holes in his coat where the bullets had ripped though, entering the creatures head. They were literally in-between his legs. He landed on the creature's head, just beside where the bullets had entered. Sonic managed to land a hard kick to one of the eyes, before it's tail slammed in to the place where he had been.

"It's stronger, but it's just as stupid!" yelled Sonic. Darius looked up, just in time to jump out of the way of the tail. It was just as stupid. Shadow threw a chaos sphere at the creature's eyes, frying all but three of them. "Careful Shadow. We don't want to blind it. It might start killing bystanders."

"It's going to do that anyway," Shadow yelled, throwing another wave of Chaos Spheres.

"Damnit! Just die already!" Darius was starting to lose his patience. He wanted this thing dead. But it was so tough, so strong.

A loud explosion rang out though the early morning light. The sun was just coming up over the mountain range to the east of the city. Sabina was glad this flight was almost over. There was a knock on the sound door. Slowing down the engine, Sabina opened the door.

"You'll need to go north-west of here to get to Sonic's house." The voice of the red echidna indicated that he had just woken up.

"Alright. I can't wait to get out and-" The plane suddenly lurched. A loud explosion followed, leaving Sabina and Knuckles temporary deaf, and waking up Rouge, who instantly panicked, assuming the plane had blown up.

"What the hell was that?" yelled the echidna.

"I don't know," was the reply, also yelled. "It came from that city."

"Go there. If something just blew up, it's bound to be Eggman. Where there's Eggman, there's Sonic."

"Alright!" yelled the snow-white fox, turning the plane and running the engine up to full power. Rouge looked up at Knuckles, having figured out that the plane wasn't about to explode.

The X-Tornado rocketed by. Knuckles just had time to see Amy standing on the outside, her hammer drawn and ready.

"Follow that plane!" he yelled. Sabina did. However, the X-Tornado was much faster than the plane that Sabina was flying. The X-Tornado rose up several hundred feet, the dive-bombed something. Sabina flew over the area where it had landed.

"Oh my," said Rouge, looking down at the destruction.

"What the hell is that thing!?" yelled Knuckles, pointing down. Rouge looked down, apparently thinking the same. They had just flown over the creature. The plane rocked violently, going into a spin. However, Sabina quickly recovered it. Her abilities as a pilot were rival that of Tails. Then, the plane just fell apart. The creature had hit it with its tail. They impacted a very tall building, slamming into it and going inside. Thankfully, no one was inside.

Sabina kicked the cockpit door open and got out. She had a small cut on her head just above her left eye that was bleeding, though it was far from serious. Rouge opened the door to the part of the cockpit that she and Knuckles were sitting in. She got out, shaking her head, followed by the red echidna. The bat looked at the fox.

"Are you ok?" asked Rouge, walking over to the normally snow-white fox to get a better look at the cut.

"Yep," said the fox, looking at the part of the plane that inside the building. The plane hadn't been big to start with. "I just hit my head on the dashboard. By chance, I hit the only part without padding." As she turned to walk out the window, something came flying in.

An ebony and crimson hedgehog stood, looking extremely angry. He was about to run out the window, when he saw Knuckles.

"I thought you were dead," said the hedgehog, without a bit of concern or surprise in his voice.

"I'm glad to see you too. What the hell is that thing outside?"

"No idea." With that, Shadow jumped out the window.

"Would someone tell me what's going on?" asked Sabina, getting annoyed.

"Well, I would say that Sonic and Shadow are trying to beat a creature that they've never seen before," said Rouge, looking out the window. She too jumped out the window, not wanting to miss out on the action. Knuckles look at Sabina.

"Stay here. I'll make sure that someone comes to get you." With that, the echidna jumped out the window. Sabina walked over to the window and looked out.

"Knuckles!" yelled Sonic. Seeing his old friend alive was a shock, though a welcome one.

"What is this thing?" asked the echidna, looking at the creature.

"No idea. We beat one before, but his one is a lot stronger," replied the blue hedgehog. A fox that Knuckles had never seen before landed next to Sonic.

"This is no time for greetings. Talk after it's dead." With that, the fox launched off after the creature.

"Who was that?" asked Knuckles, as he and Sonic rushed the creature.

"Darius," replied Sonic, attacking the legs. Above them, Rouge was busy with the tail, trying to disable it. Sonic look to his left just in time. Shadow had launched another wave of Chaos Spheres. They all impacted the creature, actually doing some damage this time. Darius had managed to destroy a piece of the outer skin of the creature. The two holes in hit's head were bleeding, though not enough to kill it.

Darius launched another attack. This time, he was going to try to sever the tail at the base. He jumped, landing just at the base of the tail, a few feet behind the last pair of legs. Above him, a bat was kicking at the tails, doing no damage.

"Fucking insect," he said, getting ready to unleash a large amount of energy. It didn't happen. The creature hit him with its tail. He didn't know what hit him. He turned his head in the direction that he was flying. He didn't have time to do anything. He went through the glass, headfirst.

Sabina was on the fourth floor of the building that she had landed in. She was just getting off the stairs when the glass exploded. The snow-white fox could tell that someone had flown though the window. She ran into the room, rounding a corner in the process. The fight was raging outside. She turned her head, not believing what she was seeing.

There was an ebony and crimson fox, lying on a collapsed table, bleeding fairly badly. She ran over to him, and helped him up. Their eyes met, as he coughed up some blood. It was dripping from his mouth. He took off his trench coat and handed it to the other fox. She just looked at him, mesmerized. He was unlike anyone she had ever seen before. His fur was mostly black, but there were some red streaks in it. His hair was incredible; it looked like he had quills. But the thing that really surprised her was his tails. He actually had two tails. The only other foxes that she had seen in her life had one tail. Ironically, she the fox she was looking at was only the second greater-fox that she had ever seen. Apparently, foxes were somewhat rare. Either their numbers were low, or they just kept to themselves, both greater and lesser.

The foxes got up off their knees, Sabina still holding the other fox's trench coat. He spat out some more blood.

"Mother fucking insect," he said, very pissed off, the rage growing. "I'm going send you hell." Suddenly, a dark red aura surrounded his body. A large sword materialized in his hand. It was huge, covered in strange looking markings, and very heavy looking. He couched down, then charged out the window.

Amy was watching the fight from the X-Tornado. She was standing on the outside of the plane, with. Tails was now orbiting the fight, looking out the window.

Another window explode. Darius came flying out, holding a deadly looking sword. He charged the creature.

"Die you son-of-a-bitch!" yelled the ebony and crimson fox, moving as fast as Sonic. He jumped, swinging his sword. The blade cut through the tough skin of the creature like a hot knife though butter, completely severing one of the legs on the creature at the body. He continued upwards, hacking off half of the tail. As he reached the apex of his jump, he fired of a dark red beam on pure energy at the creature. The beam removed the part of the creature's body just in front of the back pair of legs. However, Darius didn't fall immediately. He hovered in mid-air for a few seconds before charging down. He flipped his body so that his feet were falling first, his sword in-between his feet. The tip of the blade was just a few inches under his feet, though his arms were held high above his head, both hands gripping the handle tightly.

Rough looked up, realizing that the fox was about to plow though her. But it was her fault. She had flown into his path. Just as blade came within feet of her head, she felt something plow into her side. She hit the ground fairly hard, though someone was holding her. She turned her head and saw Knuckles. Their eye met. She would have kissed him, but Darius impacted at just that moment.

Every window that wasn't already blown out in the buildings surrounding the large square where the fight was going on exploded as soon as the shockwave created by the impact. Darius had hit the ground hard enough to blow the road in, revealing the large storm drains that ran unnoticed beneath the city. The creature was turned to dust from the heat of the impact. Cars were sent flying though the air as though they were weightless. The X-Tornado was flung though the air, with Amy holding on for her life. Darius had more or less managed to ruin the entire square. The creature was dead, though.

There was a large cloud of smoke flowing from the center of the impact. Everyone looked to it, waiting for Darius to walk out of the cloud.

High above the battle, a light blue hedgehog with a light blue aura surrounding his body and very sharp-looking, upturned quills was watching the fight from a large monitor. He was surprised that the fox had managed to do so little damage. He thought that his former student would have leveled the entire city. But no, he had only destroyed the city square.

The light blue hedgehog was surprised that the old laser still worked at all. He hadn't fired it yet, though it indicated that is could fire if need be. The ebony and crimson hedgehog had done a good job in his upkeep of the station. Now, it was time to use it for it's original purpose.


	15. Chapter 15

_Judgment chapter 15_

_Smoke was still coming from the impact crater after ten minutes. Civilian emergency crew were very busy trying to keep the small fires under control. The EMS crews were working even harder, assessing the damage to everyone involved. _

_Darius was yet to emerge from the crater. Tails was beginning to wonder if the older fox had survived. He brought the X-Tornado down in her center of the square. Hopping out, he ran over to Sonic to see if the blue hedgehog was alright. Amy made sure of hit, healing Sonic with her newfound powers. The young fox turned his attention to the crater, where rescue crews were now focusing. Tails ran over to it, beginning to think that the ebony and crimson fox was seriously injured. The emergency crews didn't give him a problem, ignoring him for the most part. The crater was a lot bigger than Tails had thought._

_The main storm drains that Darius had slammed into were massive, at lest thirty feet deep and twenty feet wide. A few small parts of the creature were lying here and there, but most of it was gone. Tails realized why Darius hadn't come up; the current of the water was to great to allow it. He had probably been washed away with the path of the water. The young fox ran over to one of the rescue workers. _

"_You've got to shut down the drainage lines. That fox is being washed down the drains," said Tails. Staying calm was a lot harder to do than it looked. He wondered how Sonic did it._

"_We can't do that. There are no shutoffs after this point. He's going to be washed out into the river. Come with me," instructed the worker. He went into a truck, and then came out with a large map. He looked at it for a second before pointing out to Tails where the drainage lines let out into the river. "He's going to come out here, probably in about fifteen minutes, but it's underground. The river comes out of the mountains…here," said the worker, pointing to a spot several miles down the river. "The only problem is that that's the sewage treatment facility. The river runs right beside it, but I don't think you can actually get to it, the way they've got it set up. You would have to wait for it to exit the facility. Considering the rate the river's flowing, that could take about an hour and a half."_

"_Thanks!" yelled Tails, running over to where Sonic, Knuckles, Rouge, Amy, Shadow, and a fox that he had never seen before were standing. Tails' jaw dropped when he saw that the snow-white fox had two tails. He quickly shook the feeling._

"_Did you find him?" asked Sonic._

"_No. He got washed into the river. One of the workers told me that he's going to come out down by the sewage treatment facility, but it's going to take almost two hours for him to get there," said the young fox quickly. Everyone just looked at each other. None of them were sure how this would turn out._

"_Hey! Fox!" yelled the worker, running over to Tails. "I just radioed the sewage treatment facility. They're going to shut off the pumps and send a crew up into the river to check for your friend. If you're going too, you need to get moving. They said they would need about ten minutes to shut everything down."_

"_Thanks a lot," said Tails. He just looked back at the group before running over to the X-Tornado. By the time he got it started, everyone was already getting in, including the snow-white fox, who seemed to be listing to Knuckles and Rouge. Only then did it occur to Tails that Knuckles was supposed to be dead. He looked back, then concentrated on flying. Just behind him, Amy sat down._

_They flew at top speed to the spot that the worker had pointed out to Tails. Shadow had stayed behind, saying that he still had business to take care of. Tails kicked up the throttle some more, hoping it wasn't to late._

_Darius opened his eyes. His senses were still coming back to him. He had no idea where he was, what time it was, or what had just happened. Slowly, his memory came back to him. Shortly after it did, he realized that he was floating. His eyes were starting to relay messages to his brain, allowing him to see. He was in a concrete structure of some kind, though he didn't know what. He could see some light ahead of him, but had no way to move himself over to it. Suddenly, he felt himself falling. He only fell for a few seconds before hitting more water. But this water was so cold, too cold for him to stand._

_He concentrated, trying to find his arms. As soon as he did, he regretted it. The cold water burned in his cuts. He yelled out in pain. Seeing a small path cut into the rock, he tried to swim over it. The result was hardly swimming, though he did reach it after some trying. The current was strong, and he was weak. _

_One of his hands found hold on what he thought was a ladder. But the pain that came from grabbing it caused him to let go as soon as he felt the pull of the current._

_He drifted down the river some more, before finding a rock jutting out from the side of the wall. He grabbed it, this time prepared for the fiery pain that exploded up his arm. He screamed. His right arm was probably broken. He tried to ignore it. It was almost impossible, but he slowly managed to crawl up the wall and pull himself onto the path._

_The normally strong fox collapsed to his hands and knees, shivering. He was extremely cold and wet. Not sure of what to, he started to slowly crawl in the direction of the river. He didn't make it far before collapsing into a cold, pain filled slumber. Just before he passed out, he thought he saw a faint light at the end of the river, just at the end of his vision._

_Tails landed the X-Tornado outside of the facility, a worker signaling him. The fox got out of the plane, followed by everyone else. Sonic didn't wait for instructions. He saw the party getting ready to enter the tunnel, and took off at full speed. Everyone else took off running._

_Sonic shot through the tunnel. He hated water more than almost anything else. However, Darius had saved their lives. The blue hedgehog shot around a corner, tripping over something in the way. He skidded several feet before turning around. He shot over to the object that he had it. However, it was just a rock. He hedgehog shook his head, and continued off into the river._

_Several minutes later, Sonic came to something lying around a different bend. He walked over to it, sure that it was his newfound friend. He was shocked at what he saw._

_The fox was lying on his stomach, his right arm badly broken. There was some blood, though not much. He was breath very slowly. Sonic got on him knees, putting his had on the fox's back, above where his heart should be. It was only now that Sonic noticed that the fox was shivering badly. His heartbeat was very slow._

"_Crap," said the hedgehog, before running back to tell the others to hurry up._

"_I don't know much about what's going on," said Sabina, riding in the back seat of one of the jeeps that the crew had taken down into the tunnel. She was sitting next to Tails and Amy. Rouge and Knuckles were sitting behind them._

"_Truth be told, we don't know much about him either. He's just like Shadow," said Amy, sighing. She didn't know why, but she was starting to get fond of the ebony and crimson hedgehog. "Sonic, Tails, and I were exploring a coliseum when he showed up, fighting a dragon."_

"_Wow," said the snow-white fox, seemingly surprised. She was, but she was more worried about Darius._

"_What about you? How did you come into this?" continued Amy. "Well," started the snow-white fox, before Sonic interrupt her._

"_Hurry up! He's not breathing right, and I don't think that his body temp is high enough!" With that, Sonic shot off. Amy started to focuses her energy, or magic, as Darius had called it. She knew that the ebony and crimson fox was going to need it badly._

_After a few long minutes, they arrived, bathing the area in the light from the headlights of the jeep. Sonic got a better view of the damage done to Darius now. Amy ran over to him, getting ready to hit him with a cure spell. Tails stopped her._

"_Amy, don't! If you do, his arm might not set right!" The pink hedgehog considered this. The young fox was probably right. She looked down, feeling helpless. She hated that feeling, and found herself wishing Shadow was there, though quickly knocking the thought out of her mind._

_A couple of workers got a stretcher out, while another turned one the truck around. They carefully put the fox on the stretcher, having been warned that he was prone to destroying anything that surprised him. They placed him in the bed of the truck, quickly taking off. One of them, clearly a medic, ran an IV. The others hopped back into the jeep, taking off. Amy, however, had managed to get into the back of the truck._

_As the truck was creeping along the narrow, bumpy path leading back out of the underground river into the facility, Darius started to stir. Amy noticed this, and started trying to make sure that waking up would be a gentle process for him. The last thing they needed was for him to blow up everything in site. However, it was clear that he didn't have any idea what was going on as he just laid there, moaning. She looked up, seeing the entrance to the tunnel coming up. The truck started to pick up speed. _

_Unknown to them, Darius was starting to wake up all the way. But he had no idea what was going on. He couldn't feel his body at all, thanks to the painkillers and the sedatives that they had put into him. He thought that he could make out the words Morphine and Valium, but he wasn't sure._

_The next few hours were a blur. Having no place better to go, everyone stayed at the hospital while their friend was getting his arm fixed. Darius didn't know or care what was going on around him, and allowed himself to be handled, though it was obvious that he was awake. Sabina had been explaining everything to Amy, Sonic, and Tails, with the help of Knuckles and Rouge. _

_Now that everyone was up to speed on what was going on, Tails let his curiosity to get the better of him._

"_You have two tails," he said, facing Sabina, who looked slightly funny at the moment. Her normally snow-white fur had dried blood in it, and the red streaks were almost invisible from all the dirt. At the moment, she was pulling out small chucks of the blood from above her eye._

"_Yep," she said, facing the younger fox, noticing that he did too. "By the looks of it, so do you."_

"_Yea. I used to think that I was the only one, but I guess not. I was surprised when Darius had two, but now another one?"_

"_I don't really think it's all that odd. You're only the fourth greater-fox I've seen, and you've got two tails. Darius was the third, and he had two tails. I only saw one other greater-fox growing up. I saw lesser-foxes often, but that was only because their den was close to where I lived. But they only had one tail, as did the greater-fox that was in the town store one day. He looked at me like I was a freak, pointing at my second tail." Sabina laughed. "I tried to hide my tails for a few days before my father told me to stop. I never knew my parents, and was taken in at an early age by a family of greater-bats. Anyway, I never quite forgot about it, though I didn't much care. I was happy out there, alone most of the time. It gave me time to think and write and create."_

_The door to the operating room swung open. Everyone looked at it, Knuckles and Rouge having to turn around. A doctor came out, looking pail. _

"_Your friend," he begin, stopping and shaking his head in disbelief. The shock hit everyone hard. "I just don't really know." Everyone just looked at each other. The doctor made it sound like was dead, at first. But now, they thought that he was just seriously injured, with little chance of living._

"_Seriously, what the fuck!?" someone behind the door yelled. The sound of metal hitting the floor could be heard, followed by a solid thud. Everyone recognized the voice instantly. The door flung open. The ebony and crimson fox walked out, flexing his right arm._

"_He suddenly woke up, confused and weak. It didn't seem right. We had just finished setting his arm and stitching him back up when he sat up in the bed. He just looked at his arm for a second, before the stitches just blew out, hitting the wall. The nurse backed into a wall, holding a large scalpel, assuming that he was going to kill us. However, he simply got up and got a drink before setting back down on the bed and questioning me about how the surgery went." Everyone just looked from Darius to the doctor._

"_Thanks. I'd like my clothes back, though," said the fox, patting the doctor on the back._

"_I owed it to you. You did save my life."_

"_Oh. You were the one in that car?"_

"_Uh-hu."_

"_It's a small world. My clothes?"_

"_We had to cut them off you. I'm sorry, but they've been reduced to rags," the doctor said, apologetically. Darius muttered something, then looked at the others._

"_How many people died?"_

"_None so far," said the doctor. "Though a few people are in I.C.U. and will be for a few days." Darius shook his head, then followed Sonic and Amy out the door. Tails, Sabina, Knuckles, and Rouge followed._

_Tails had taken the X-Tornado over to Vanilla's house to pick up Cream and Vanilla both. He intended to let them stay at his home, which doubled as his workshop. Sonic has disappeared, saying something about helping to clean up the mess that had been made. Knuckles and Rouge had left together, having failed to tell anyone anything about their newfound relationship. Apparently, they intended to go find all of the chaos emeralds they could. This left Amy, Darius, and Sabina to walk back to Amy's house._

_Darius' mind was off in another place. He was unaware of the conversation taking place beside him. Amy and Sabina were talking about the recent events, and almost everything else they could think of. The sun was setting off in the distance, casting a beautiful glow on the land. Darius stopped walking, and turned. He was looking out from the top of the hill they were standing on, down at the small meadow below. Amy and Sabina noticed this, and walked up beside him._

_The ebony and crimson fox seemed so much different at that moment. All of the feeling of being invulnerable that came with being around him was gone. His eyes lacked the glow of power that Sabina had noticed in them earlier._

_An odd feeling washed over the snow-white fox. She felt different when she was around Darius. An odd feeling was slowly brewing inside her stomach. He reached down, touching his arm._

"_Is your arm hurting you?" asked Amy, suddenly aware that something was off. The ebony and crimson fox looked at her. He turned his head away, a tear falling from his eye._

"_Not really." His voice was soft and weak. Sabina was left more clueless than ever, feeling an odd urge to reach out and touch the other fox._

"_Then what's bothering you?" asked the snow-white fox. Darius held his right arm up in front of himself. He just moved it around. Amy though he looked odd wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt. _

"_That creature," he said slowly. "It was stronger than the first one. They aren't natural. Nazo's behind this. And soon, he will unleash another weapon, far stronger than the last one. I just don't know what it will be, or when."_

"_Didn't you say something about a super-weapon a few days ago?" asked Amy, leaving Sabina lost again._

"_Yes," said the ebony and crimson fox, growing more distant. "But no one ever told me where I could get one."_

"_What about the Ark?" asked Amy, a though suddenly hitting her. "The Ark has a large laser on. But Shadow knows more about it than I do. We should ask him." Amy looked at Sabina, smiling. For some reason, the snow-white fox seemed to fit right in with the group. Sabina was just staring at the other fox. "Sabina, are you ok?"_

"_Yes," she replied, not taking her gaze from the other fox._

"_No," said Darius, probably not aware of what was going on beside him. "The Eclipse Cannon wouldn't be his weapon of choice. There must be something else there, something more powerful."_

"_How do you know what it's called?" asked Amy, surprised. She couldn't remember herself what it was called up until that point. Darius looked her in the eye, sending a chill of fear down her spine. He didn't seem to notice her fear._

"_No idea. All I know is that he won't use the Eclipse Cannon. There has to be something else." The fox looked off to the distance, deep in thought. Then, a look up surprise slowly materialized on his face. "Amy?"_

"_What?"_

"_What did you say Sonic and Shadow could do with the chaos emeralds?"_

"_Well, if they really need to, they can draw extra power from them," said the pink hedgehog, trying to remember just what she had said. "Sometimes, they go into their super forms. That's how they're able to defeat the most powerful of enemies."_

"_And how does the Master Emerald fit in to this?" The pink hedgehog thought about it for a minute._

"_I'm not really sure. You would have to ask Knuckles about that." The ebony and crimson fox just looked at the pink hedgehog, then continued walking. Sabina and Amy followed soon after. They traveled for about ten minutes before Sabina broke the silence._

"_What's up with him?" whispered Sabina into Amy's ear._

"_I've got no idea," was the whispered response. "He's more complex than Shadow."_

"_And what about Shadow? You didn't say much about him, and when you did, it seemed like you were trying to avoid the subject. Why? You don't like him, do you?"_

"_What? No." was the pink hedgehog's defensive response. "Sonic is the only one for me." But as she said it, deep inside she wondered. "Anyway, Shadow was created by Dr.Robotnik, Eggmans' grandfather. Anyway, Shadow's memory was lost to him the last time he was frozen, and he's been slowly getting it back. He was created on the Ark. Dr.Robotnik's granddaughter, Maria, was his only friend for a long time. When soldiers invaded the Ark, Maria was killed. It was the last thing Shadow saw before he was frozen. Of course, this was back when humans were still alive. Anyway, Eggman found Shadow, and tired to use him to destroy Sonic. Obviously, it didn't work. Anyway, Shadow's memory often comes back whenever he sees something that reminds him of Maria. The reason that Darius is more complex is because his memories come at completely random times, and with them, new powers."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_The last time we fought one of those things, he torched it, and after Shadow killed it, he vaporized it. None of us are sure what triggers it, and we're not sure how long it will stay."_

"_Umm…I hate to ask this of you, but could I stay with you over night." The snow-white fox smiled. Under the moonlight, she really was very pretty._

"_Of course you can. I don't mind."_

"_What about him?"_

"_I have no idea." They rounded a corner and came to Amy's house. Darius was already inside. Amy looked at the snow-white fox. "I guess that answers your question."_


	16. Chapter 16

Judgment chapter 16

Sabina stepped out of the shower, shaking gently. The warm water had felt nice against her fur, and she was glad to get the dried blood out. Normally, she wouldn't have stayed in so long, but she felt like soaking. Amy had already taken a shower, and had told Sabina to enjoy herself and take her time. Darius had come in, falling asleep standing up against a wall. With some help from Amy, she laid the other fox down on one of the couches.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Her fur was as white as ever, with the red streaks showing though just the same as always. She had always been told she was beautiful, though had never really put much though into it.

She put on her clothes, which Amy had washed while she was in the shower, and walked downstairs. Amy had gone to sleep. The crimson and ebony fox was still on the couch. He hadn't moved since the two girls had laid him down.

The snow-white fox felt her heart rising in her chest. She felt drawn to the other fox, wanting to walk over to him and curl up on his chest. She ignored the urge, instead falling asleep on the couch opposite to the one the other fox was on.

Upstairs, Amy lay awake in bed, wondering what to do. Sonic was starting to drift out of her eyes. She was simply getting tired of chasing him. He had never returned her feelings for him. The problem was Shadow. She didn't know why she was feeling drawn to him. He was more distant that Sonic was, and twice as stubborn.

"Why are men always playing games with me?" she asked herself. "Sonic won't admit I exist, and Shadow is too interested in Maria." The pink hedgehog closed her eyes, frustrated. She drifted into a deep, peaceful sleep.

Bergen turned his head. He had an odd feeling the he had been followed. The past six months had been hell. Killing Vayne was starting to seem like a bad idea. Only chaos and death had come from it.

The former Judge was starting to wonder if he had made the right choice allowing the king to be assassinated. But, the logic behind it at the time had been undeniable. In truth, it was the stupidity of the people that was responsible for the massacre. Now, he was following a path he had seen in his dream.

The big cat came into a clearing. Two very familiar faces looked up at him.

"Drace? Gabranth?"

"I'll be damned. Those dreams weren't for nothing after all," said the blood red echidna, looking his old friend from head to toe.

"Damn Drace. How far along are you?" asked the big cat, looking at the blue hedgehog, who was smiling, happily stroking her massive belly.

"Almost there," she replied. "Less than two months to go. Twins, if you'll believe it."

"Wow. Have you heard from the others?"

"We're all that's left," said Gabranth. "Ghis was killed in his sleep. I think that the last Judge that we got, Hawk-eye, killed himself. Vann went head-on against a mercenary force that was trying to kill him. He almost won, too. As for Zodiark, I've got no idea. He disappeared. I don't know where he went, and I've looked."

"I've got the strangest feeling that he's watching us right now."

"You're not far from being right," said the blue hedgehog. She just smiled, and looked up into a tree. The two men followed her gaze, but nothing was there.

They heard a gentle thump behind them. Something had landed behind them. Turing around, they saw a fox. His fur was an incredible shade of black, with red streaks in it. His hair was long, and looked like quills. His two tails were lazy hung out behind him, curling just above the ground, leaving the tips pointing up in the air. He just looked the three former Judges in the eyes.

"I see you've done exactly what I told you not to," said the fox, an angry look on his face. However, it was replaced with a smile. "Not that any of you were ever good at doing what you were told."

"Good to see you too," said Drace, her hands on her belly. Her beauty had been hidden by her armor. Now, her beauty hid her inner warrior, the one that the armor had represented.

"As much as I hate to say it, I'm glad your slowing down and having a family of your own. You husband must be very happy. Twins, though. I feel sorry for him."

"Oh, shut up," said Bergen, walking over to the fox. "Just where in the hell have you been?"

"Seriously. Did you figure out how to jump dimensions? I tried to find you and couldn't." The fox just smiled.

"I haven't been hiding, if that's what you're implying. On the contrary, I've been very visible lately. I came across Vann shortly before he died. He didn't recognize me. You, my friends, are the first."

"I can't believe it. The invincible Judge Magister Zodiark actually showing something to another creature other than his blade," said the echidna, laughing. "You still owe us, big time. You never did tell us your name."

"I already told you, I can't remember. I've tried. Anyway, I called you here for a reason."

"Oh, so that was you?" asked Drace with surprise in her voice, though it was very obviously fake.

"Do you even have to ask? Anyway, I called you here for a reason. When I killed Vayne, the kings from the other nations were trapped in one of the dungeons of the castle. Long story short, they tried to use Chaos Control to teleport out. Vayne's Chaos Emerald instead let out a powerful wave of hatred and insanity. More or less, we killed all those people. But that's not the point.

"The point is gravity. The only reason that field didn't consume the entire world was due to a gravity field. I had each of you go in your specific directions so I could bounce the spell off of you, using your magic powers to amplify it. I had a feeling that something bad would happen, so I tried to protect against it. Obviously, it worked.

"However, a few weeks ago, I tapped deeper into my power than I ever had before. The result was only the second of its kind." Everyone there knew what the fox was talking about.

"You cast Giga-Graviton?" asked Gabranth, very surprised.

"Not once. Twice. The first time, you helped me. But last time, I did it alone. Point being, we seriously need hide. I don't know about you three, but my power has only continued to increase." Bergen and Gabranth both nodded their heads, indicating that they too had grown stronger. Only Drace indicated that she had not.

"I've been to busy," she said, passionately stroking her belly. She was going to make a great mother, assuming she lived through it. Both her mother and sister died giving birth. "These two have been keeping me very busy." She looked up, smiling. Zodiark nodded his head.

They heard some noise behind them. Instinctively, the three men surrounded Drace. However, a slightly familiar yellow hedgehog walked out of the bushes. Drace's husband wasn't a big hedgehog, though Zodiark knew that he could protect his family if need be. He was a good solider, and Zodiark had basically put him through hell when Drace said she was going to marry him. For the man who was supposed to be little more than her boss, the fox had been much closer to a father, an impression that all the Judges liked very much. Zodiark was the closest thing most of them had to a father, and he filled the role well, though not trying to. He often denied that he cared so much, but it was obvious.

The four continued to talk, late into the afternoon and into early evening. Zodiark seemed very calm and relaxed. It was very odd to the former judges to see their leader taking some time off and kicking back when he wasn't on the field, fighting for a cause that he apparently didn't believe in.

"Why are you really here, Zodiark? Is it because you missed us, or is there something else that you need from us?" asked Bergen, taking a drink of his beer. The cat had only started drinking recently, and had never gotten close to being drunk.

"I don't really know why I called you here. I just…I don't know. You guys know me better than I know myself, I think. I just wondered what you could tell me. How much have I changed?" The big cat looked at the much smaller fox, almost like an idiot. He was very, very surprised.

"Are you trying to hold on to the past?"

"Not trying. But I can't put it behind me. It just seems to be blocking my way to the future. Look at you. You've changed quite a bit in six months." The cat nodded. It was true that he had changed. He had lost some of his muscle. "So has Drace. Just look at her. Six months ago, it would have been hard to tell she was pregnant. Now, you can tell she has twins. Even Gabranth looks different. His quills aren't quite as red as they used to be, and he's gotten slower."

"And you haven't changed a bit," said the big cat sarcastically. "Very few people ever saw your real face. I heard troops on the field trying to guess who you were. I heard almost everything except fox. No one would have believed it." With a more serious, though still very laid-back tone, the big cat continued. "The only thing that you've done is loosen up some. Other than that, your still the same old killing machine that I've always known."

"I suppose your right."

The fox stood up and walked over to where Drace, her husband, and Gabranth were sitting. He spoke to them, before fading off into the air. Bergen walked over to where the others were sitting.

"He seemed very troubled," said Drace, looking at the big cat. She had gone from the incredibly strong, almost invincible Judge to a very feminine mother to be. The cat just laughed, throwing the blue hedgehog off.

"Hell," said Bergen, cocking his head back, taking a drink of the beer. "We were all almost invincible. But he was invincible. I never found a hole in his armor other than us, and he tried as hard as he could to keep us safe." The cat paused for a second, thinking to himself. "He's wondering why he's not changing like we are. He's just concerned." He turned his head back to Drace, smiling.

"Change is inevitable. There is nothing we can do about it," she said, shaking her head. She was so much nicer since she got pregnant.

"Drace, promise me something," said the cat, looking Drace in the eye. "Promise me that you'll tell you children about him. Tell them what he really was." The hedgehog stood up and hugged the big cat. Everyone was aware of the emotions flowing around through the big cats heart. They all knew it. Zodiark was gone for good.

"Of course. Of course I will," she said, crying into his chest.

At first, Drace's husband had felt very threatened when he saw the other Judges, and the way they interacted with Drace. Now, as his wife cried in the arms of the cat, he didn't feel threatened. He knew that they would forever be bonded. He joined in the hug, as did Gabranth a moment later.

Sabina woke up, the sunlight streaming in though the glass doors leading out onto Amy's back patio. She rolled over, wanting to see what the ebony and crimson fox looked like in the sunlight. He wasn't there, however.

The snow-white fox got up and walked outside, having a feeling that Darius was outside. She opened the door. He was standing on the railing of the deck, the wind gently whipping all around him. All he had on was a pair of loose, black pants. The sun was casting an almost heavily glow around him.

Sabina felt her heart start to race. He was beautiful. His fur reflected the light, making him glow. The red streaks in his fur made him all the more irresistible to her. He took little notice of her.

He held his left hand out from his body, turning his head to the left so he could see it. Flexing his hand several times, he just kept looking. Without warning, a flame erupted around his hand, completely engulfing it in less than two seconds. She let out a gasp.

"Are you worried that it hurts me?" She was very surprised by the calm, relaxed tone of his voice.

"Wha…what?"

"You think the fire hurts me," he said, still calm. He still hadn't turned his head. "You're wrong. I feel no pain from it."

"But your hand. It's completely on fire." Darius laughed.

"The magic doesn't hurt me. It's warm, comforting." The flame went out. As soon as it did, the fox flexed his hand once more, before pivoting on one foot in a fluid motion to face Sabina. He looked at her for a few seconds, their eyes meeting.

She couldn't help it. The look of desperation formed in her eyes. She had fallen head over heels for a fox that she barely knew.

Darius looked at her, no emotion on his face. It scarred her. His eyes didn't tell her anything as to what he was thinking. She just looked at him, her mind lost in his red eyes.


	17. Chapter 17

Judgment chapter 17

Sabina tried to move, just to look away. But she couldn't. She had lost all control of her body. The other fox had her, free to do what he desired. She tired to call out for help, but wasn't able to.

Darius walked past the snow-white fox into the house. She came back to her senses, turning around. Her heart was rising in her chest.

"Morning, everyone," said Amy, walking down the stairs, straighten out her nightgown. Sabina broke her gaze at the other fox to look at Amy.

"Thanks for letting me stay here last night," replied the snow-white fox.

"It's not a bit deal. I think you'll be staying for a long time," said the pink hedgehog, walking into the kitchen. "You hungry?" she asked, poking her out of the kitchen.

"Yes, but you don't have to cook."

"Don't worry about it. I don't," she stopped in mid sentence before poking her head back out the door. "Have you seen Darius? He's not asleep."

"Yea. I think he went to take a shower." As if on queue, the sound of running water came from the bathroom.

The two girls continued chatting, eating a small breakfast off scrambled eggs. The sound of the water stopped. Darius emerged from the shower soon afterwards, his fur extremely shiny, even more so than before. He looked in the kitchen, though continued past it out onto the deck. He didn't come back in.

After cleaning up, the girls went outside, join the ebony and crimson fox of the deck. He was staring out into the ocean, though his eyes were closed.

"I can't believe that you're not hungry," said Amy, leaning on the railing. Sabina was also leaning on the railing, though on the opposite side of Darius. "Especially after what you've been through." The ebony and crimson fox just smiled.

"You've got no idea," he said, keeping his eyes closed. His voice was oddly reminiscent of Shadow's. The little pink hedgehog felt a wave of loneliness hit her. She ignored it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Sabina, quite literally taking words out of Amy's mouth, who was getting ready to say the same thing. Darius just laughed to himself. The girls looked at each other, all kinds of ideas playing out through their minds.

"Lets just say that Shadow and I had a long night," said the fox, putting emphasis on the word long. Now, both the snow-white fox and the pink hedgehog were confused.

"Doing what?" asked Amy, sounding a bit annoyed. Suddenly, there was a small beeping nose, the sound of which caused both girls to jump out of surprise. Darius looked up to the sky. The girls followed his gaze. There was nothing there but the rising sun. They looked back at the ebony and crimson fox, who seemed to be counting. The girls looked back to the sky.

Without warning, a light brighter than the sun exploded across a medium sized part of the sky, just in front of the rising sun. It didn't last long, though it was bright enough to blind the girls for a few seconds.

"That," said the ebony and crimson fox, just looking at the light. Without any warning, Shadow appeared next Amy, standing on the railing. Darius looked over to the hedgehog, who was looking at the fox. Amy figured it out.

"You blew up the Ark!?" she half yelled, half asked. However, she was being ignored.

"Now, all we have to do is go find the damn things," said Darius.

"How…how did you…why did you do that?" asked Amy, facing Darius. The fox just looked at the pink hedgehog.

"It was his idea," replied Darius, pointing to Shadow.

"What?"

"I'm tired of holding on to the past," said the ebony and crimson hedgehog. "It's time to quit looking back." The hedgehog looked like he was in pain. "Besides, I didn't want to got toe to toe with Nazo."

"You actually saw him?" asked Sabina, reminding everyone she was there.

"No," replied Shadow. "I just armed the self-destruct charges. He handed Nazo." Before anyone could ask any questions about Nazo, Darius walked back into the house.

"No," was all he said, though it was said in a very strict tone. Shadow followed, leaving the two girls dumbfounded on the porch. It wasn't long before Sonic appeared.

"What was that flash of light?" he asked, ignoring all greeting. Amy muttered something under her breath before walking off into her house. Sonic watched her walk in. "What did I do?" he asked, thinking that it wasn't his fault.

"No idea," said Sabina, leaning on the railing, facing inside. "As for the flash, Darius and Shadow blew up the Ark." With that, she too walked into the house. Sonic just stood by the deck, confused.

Cream walked into the kitchen, which was surprisingly well stocked, considering that Tails never cooked anything. Her mother had called her.

"Yes, mother? You called?" asked the rabbit, her hands behind her back. Cheese hovered just above her shoulder.

"Would you mind taking these to Tails? He's been in the garage all day. I'm sure he's getting thirsty," asked Vanilla, motioning to a tray with two glasses of milk on it, with a large bowl of chocolate-chip cookies in the middle.

"Of course," said the little rabbit, picking up the tray. She walked off in the direction of the garage.

Inside, Tails was inside the left engine hole of the X-Tornado, trying to replace a part that had been giving him all kinds of trouble. The entire left-rear end of the X-Tornado was lying in bits and pieces all over the garage. Tails hadn't wanted to have to take the entire engine out, but it was the only way. He heard the door to the garage open.

"Tails? Are you in here?" The fox recognized the voice of his friend.

"Yea," he called. "Hold on." With some effort, he crawled out of the engine hole. He walked over to Cream. "What 'cha need?" If she hadn't already sat down the tray, she would have dropped. "What?" asked Tails, seeing the apparent surprise on the rabbit's face. He quickly realized what it was.

Though she had seen him dirty before, the rabbit had never seen her friend with mostly black fur. Tails was covered from head to toe with grease, oils, and various other lubricants and liquids that powered the complicated X-Tornado engine.

"Tails, your filthy," she said, seemingly surprised. The fox laughed, putting one hand behind his head.

"Yea, I guess I am." Cream smiled, apparently having been more shocked than surprised.

"Mother asked me to bring you these," said the rabbit, point to the tray. Unknown to her, Cheese had taken a cookie for himself, and was munching on it on a stool beside the tray. "She said that you were probably thirsty. You've been in here all day."

Tails sat down, taking his gloves off. They were so hopelessly dirty that it was easier to remove them than to bother trying to clean them. He took one of the cookies, and smiled at Cream before taking a bite. The rabbit returned the smile.

"Wow, Cream. These are really good," he said after swallowing the bite he had taken. "Did you make them?"

"No," replied the rabbit, truthfully. "My mother did. She was surprised that you had what we needed in the kitchen because you never cook. Why do you have all that food?"

"Actually," said the fox, before taking a drink of milk. "I was sure that you and your mom would accept my offer to stay here, so I stocked up." Cream giggled. "What?" asked Tails, wondering what she could possibly find funny about what he had just said."

"You have a milk mustache."

"Huh? Oh. Opps." As Tails wiped the milk ring away from his mouth, Cream giggled again.

The sound of the front door opening was easily heard in the garage. They heard voices, though only Vanilla's was obvious. After a few seconds, the door closed. "I wonder who what was," said Tails. As soon as he finished his sentence, on of the massive doors leading into the garage opened.

Sonic, Darius, Sabina, and to his great surprise, Shadow, walked in. Sabina was following Darius, though came to a stop when she saw the left engine of the X-Tornado. She immediately started looking it over from every angle. Shadow noticed this.

"Are all fox's mechanics?" he asked, sarcastically.

"I don't think Darius is," said Sonic, turning his head to look at the ebony and crimson fox. "You'd be surprised," replied Darius. Tails had already walked over to Sabina, who looked like she was dying to start playing with the engine.

"Wow," she said, as Tails approached her side. "Not bad at all. But why's it out here? Did it break?"

"No," said Tails, scratching his head. He paused for a second before continuing. "I'm trying to get a gyro out of the engine housing, but it's stuck. Here," he said, motioning to the engine hole. He pointed out the part to Sabina.

"Hey Tails," said Sonic, turning back around. Seeing that his friend wasn't there, he turned his head, following the sound of metal clanging.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Shadow, amusement on his face. Sabina took the wrench from Tails, and then crawled into the engine housing. Sonic, Shadow, Darius, and Cream watched and listened as the fox's asked questions that none of them other than Darius seemed to understand. After a few minutes, Tails took a power drill from a bench, and started taking a piece of skin of the aircraft. He crawled down into a little hole, still holding the drill. Soon after, both Tails and Sabina emerged from the aircraft. Sabina was holding an odd-looking piece of the plane in her hand. She and Tails talked for a second before she started taking it apart. Tails walked over to the group.

"What's up?" asked the young fox, trying to wipe grease out of one of his ears.

"Not the Ark," said Sonic. "Apparently, these two," he said, motioning to Darius and Shadow, "blew it up." Tails looked at Darius and Shadow.

"Self-destruct sequence work ok?"

"Yes," replied Shadow. "In fact, I think you underestimated the power of the explosion."

"I told you, I double checked. There must have been other explosives." Tails, Darius, and Shadow all turned their heads to Sonic, as if a large light had gone off above his head. He was standing, looking dumbfounded. If it were possible for his jaw to be on the floor, it would have been. Tails looked as if he was getting ready to say something, but a very loud ping caused him to turn his head.

Sabina had dropped the cover of the gyro onto the floor, and was now taking it apart with a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, and a hammer. Tails ran over to her, freaking out. But as soon as he got within range, she rotated the box so he could see into it. He fox stopped in his tracks, then looked at the plane. Sabina had already gotten up, and was getting ready to get back into the engine housing. Tails turned his head, and was suddenly back in front of Darius.

"You three blew up the Ark?" asked Sonic. Shadow and Darius turned to face him, Tails only had to shift his gaze.

"Is it finally starting to make sense?" asked Shadow in a very mocking tone. He turned back to Tails, as did Darius. The two ebony and crimson warriors started explaining to Tails what was needed of him now.

Knuckles woke up, feeling very odd. He still hadn't got entirely used to having Rouge sleeping beside him, or on top of him, as she had that night. The bat was still sleeping peacefully. He decided to let her remain that way.

The hunt for the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald had let the two to a huge forest, though neither was entirely sure why. Both were very good at tracking the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald; Knuckles because he felt an attraction to them, and Rouge because she was a jewel thief. Knuckles looked at the bat, wondering is she would steal from him. It didn't seem likely that she would.

Knuckles sighed. He tried to stand up, but woke up Rouge as soon as he moved. She just looked at him, her large, beautiful eyes begging him not to leave. Smiling, the red echidna sat back down. If she wanted him to stay, then he would. He was in love, and knew it. So did she.

She laid her head on his chest, just above his heart, and started running her hand up and down the rest of it. She did this for a few minutes, then crawled on top of him. Smiling, she kissed him. He didn't seem to mind much.

Amy sat down on her bed, he feelings swirling inside her heart. She wanted to explode. Sonic or Shadow? Sonic or Shadow? The question was becoming clearer and clearer.

Shadow.

But why him? Why Shadow? He rarely spoke to her, and was never nice when he did. It was strictly business with him. So why was he pushing his way into her thoughts?

Amy walked into the bathroom. After locking the door, she took off all her clothes, including her headband. She looked at herself, trying to figure out why no one liked her. She didn't think she was ugly. In fact, she was sure that she was quite pretty. But if she was, then why would the only person that she had wanted to hear it from for a long time never say it? Sonic had never once commented on her beauty.

She had spent years chasing the blue hedgehog around. He had always been her hero, her savior. But he had never been a lover. With him, it was always saving the world and fighting robots. And lately, he hadn't seemed to notice that she wasn't chasing him anymore. It had been over a month since she had tackled him, hugging him. To him, it was little more than more time to either fight the bad guys, or do nothing.

The pink hedgehog slowly got re-dressed. Her heart not felt like it might just break. It didn't take long for the tears to come. Everyone else was happy. Why couldn't she be? Just that morning, she had seen Sabina staring at Darius as if she liked him. In truth, she probably did. But Darius didn't seem like the type to return a hug, or help someone else emotionally. In fact, he seemed to prefer hurting people emotionally. He didn't appear to care what others were thinking, what they were wanting.

A thought suddenly came to Amy's mind. Darius and Shadow were extremely similar. Both were black with red streaks, both could use odd powers, both had memory problems (Amy laughed at how funny this sounded to her), and both didn't seem to be too intent on making friends. An even odder feature was that they seemed to like each other.

Deep inside, the pink hedgehog wasn't sure about her feelings towards the ebony and crimson fox. He was obviously stronger than Shadow, and probably fast than Sonic. She wasn't sure how smart he was, though. But the biggest object of curiosity and concern was his past. Shadow's was more or less understood, though details were very scarce. Darius, on the other hand, didn't seem to remember much about himself at all. If his claim about being the fox that killed the rumor that foxes were weak fighters was true, then he was at least 500 years old. He didn't look like he was much older than Sonic.

Her feelings for Sonic were now clear to her. The blue hedgehog had left her eye. She hated to admit it, even trying to convince herself that it wasn't true. But she knew it was.

"Shadow," she said to herself, not really noticing.

The pink hedgehog walked out of the bathroom. The garden needed to be tended to. She had started the garden during the winter in a greenhouse that Tails had built for her after realizing how much she missed the taste of fresh tomatoes. Now, in the middle of summer, she had kept the garden flourishing, having expanded it to over triple its original size. She headed for the little shed to get her hoe.

The door was a little rusty, though not hard to open. She walked in, bending over to pick up a few things. It was only when she started to stand back up that she noticed the buzzing noise above her. Slowly, she looked up. Above her head was a huge nest of hornets. She had stumbled onto the nest that she had been looking for for a long time. But now, she wasn't ready.

Then she felt it. First one, then two, the several; they were stinging her, causing her incredible amounts of pain.

Suddenly, she felt something else. The green aura appeared around her body again, but this time, it was doing something different. Less than three seconds after the energy started to build, she released it, not knowing what was happening.

Darius was leaning against the wall of the garage. Tails and Sabina were toying with the X-Tornado, and Cream had gone back inside. Sonic had run off. Shadow was on his way back to Amy's house, walking slowly. Darius smiled.

For someone who was supposed to be very attached to the space station, he had taken to the destroying it well. Apparently, even Shadow was aware of the danger of allowing Nazo to continue living.

Darius shook his head. Nazo was alive after all. The little blue hedgehog hadn't quit glowing. Darius smiled, remembering.

"Shadow, you arm the self destruct. I'll take of Nazo." The ebony and crimson hedgehog nodded before taking off running in the other direction. Darius looked back at the hedgehog before allowing his feet to carry him off in a random direction. The Ark was much bigger than he had thought, and he was lost inside it. It wasn't long before he came to an oddly misshapen door. He pried it open.

Inside the room was a huge, green emerald, surrounded by four smaller ones, though none of them smaller ones were green. There was an immense power radiating from them. The fox realized what they were.

"Master Emerald, check. Four Chaos Emeralds, check" said the fox, drawing some power from them. He walked over to one of the computer, and then sat down. He flipped on the monitor. The fox laughed. It was a map of the station that displayed the locations of everyone on board. He saw Shadow running though the corridors, heading to a central chamber. He also saw another person, though he wasn't sure who. Whoever he was, he was almost outside the room that the fox was in. Darius smiled, ready for a fight. He swung his chair around to face the door.

A blue hedgehog with a pulsing blue aura surrounding his body walked in the room, stopping just after he entered. He turned around and looked at the door, which was very broken. A realization hit the hedgehog, who then turned around and looked the room over. His gaze landed on Darius.

Darius smiled, his hands behind his head. The fox was very relaxed. The hedgehog took a step back, getting into a fighting stance.

"Well THIS is backwards," said Darius, very amused. The hedgehog remained in a battle stance, backing up slowly.

"Who are you?" he hissed.

"You don't remember me?" asked the fox, standing up and walking towards the hedgehog. "I should be offended. The greatest instructor of all time, and he can't even remember his best student." Darius put emphasis on greatest, bringing out the sarcasm.

The hedgehog lunged, trying to catch the fox off guard. It worked, though not as well as the hedgehog would have liked. He managed to hit Darius, though Darius hit him back with apparent ease. However, the hedgehog was much faster than he appeared to be, knocking Darius around with ease. Unknown to him, Darius was just having fun.

"Are you going to fight, or are you going to let me kill you?" hissed the hedgehog. "You claim to have been my greatest student, yet you have no skill." "Ah. So the great Nazo does remember me. Took you long enough." Nazo lunged at this remark, though flew into a wall. Darius had taken a step to the side, holding his fist out at just the right height that Nazo collided with it.

"You won't fight back. Why? Are you so weak?"

"Na. Lets face, I beat you last time. I'm just waiting."

"Waiting for what, me to tire?" asked the hedgehog, again attacking. This time, Darius met him head on, trading blows with him. The two jumped back a few feet, waiting for the other to make the next move. Overhead, the station's public address system crackled to life. "Attention! Attention! Self-destruct sequence initiated! I repeat, self-destruct sequence initiated! All hands, abandon station! All hands, abandon station!"

"That," said Darius, lunging. The hedgehog was caught off guard, and was hit with the powerful kick. The two flew through the air for a brief second, before the p.a. system repeated it's address. However, on the third run, it shorted out. They felt a rumble from deep inside the station. Darius smiled, the teleported off the station.

Now, as Darius looked up, he wondered what had happened to the hedgehog and the Emeralds. He was sure that they would survive reentry into the atmosphere. Just the fact that they had pulled off the job so easily was cause for concern. He looked over in the direction of Amy's house. It wasn't too far away, just about four minutes at a steady walk.

Without any warning, the sound of an explosion tore across the area. Darius looked up, his keen hearing having already figured out where the explosion had come from. He laughed to himself when part of Amy's shed landed over 100 feet away. Tails and Sabina both ran out from the garage, wondering what was going on. Darius was already halfway to Amy's house by the time the other two foxes were able to see anything.

Shadow stopped for a second, startled. Then, he ran over to where the shed used to be. Amy was lying on the ground where the shed used to be, looking just fine. Shadow ran over to her, though stopping just before he got there.

"What the hell am I doing?" he asked himself, silently. He looked at Amy, who was trying to stand up. He extended his hand, which she took. She looked at him, confused. Darius showed up, breaking the awkwardness of the moment up. He looked at Amy, thinking for a second. Then, he smiled.

"Amy, I think you've got some potential. Blowing up a shed," said the ebony and crimson fox, looking around. "What the hell for, though?"

"I was getting a hoe out," said the pink hedgehog, still trying to catch her breath. "I looked up, and there was a huge hornet nest. I was scared, and panicked. Then…I don't know. I just…felt the energy build up inside of me…and boom." Darius laughed. He hadn't been expecting Amy to be able to do much more than heal. This was as surprising at it was funny.

Amy, now standing on her own, walked into the house. She couldn't feel the stings from the hornets, though she wanted to sit down. It wasn't hot outside. She just wanted to sit inside. Unknown to her, Shadow followed her inside. She was getting a dink from the fridge, when Shadow spoke.

"Your sure your alright?" he asked. Amy turned around, startled.

"Yes, I'm ok," she said, almost dropping the glass she was holding. Their eyes met. Amy thought she felt her heart stop. Shadow and her, in the same room, alone…the thought was intoxicating. He looked away, turning his back to her. He started to walk out of the room, but stopped, as if unsure of something. Then, he left, leaving the pink hedgehog staring out the doorway, confused and upset.

Shadow walked out the door, his heart pounding in his chest. He was confused, and it showed on his face. Darius saw him. Shadow looked back at the fox, his face telling all. Darius just cocked his eyebrow, saying nothing. Shadow was starting to wonder just what the fox was thinking. He walked over to him, though said nothing as he stood by him. Finally, Shadow started talking.

"Ok. What do you want me to say?" asked the hedgehog, his emotions flowing rapidly.

"Drop it," said the fox, well aware that Shadow was treading on sensitive ground. "I don't care."

"That hedgehog. She's so damn confusing. Why is she choosing me over that faker all of the sudden? I didn't ask for this." Darius looked back towards the garage where Tails, Sabina, and Cream were.

"Shadow, Shadow, Shadow," said the fox, speaking with wisdom that didn't seem to belong to him. "Take a second and think about what you're saying. You didn't ask, yet she is. Face it, you want her as your own. She wants you. Consider it for a minute. Miss Rose is a rare jewel, one that, if obtained, should be guarded with your life. I don't know for sure, and I don't think she knows either, but Amy has got…an incredible bloodline. She's not aware of it, but she wants to continue it, to have children of her own." Shadow's face was twisting, the idea of children making him sick to his stomach. Darius noticed this. "Don't like the idea? Oh well. You will one day."

"Now I know why Sonic always avoided her," said Shadow, the idea rolling around in his mind unpleasantly. He hated the idea. "The faker has some brains after all." Darius looked at the hedgehog, trying not to start laughing.

"You jump to conclusions too easy, Shadow. Give her some thought. You might find what you're looking for in her." The fox started back to the garage. Shadow stood there, dumbfounded. Was it possible that the fox knew about what Shadow wanted most? The hedgehog had never told anyone what he missed most of all about Maria. Or had he? It was possible that someone had figured it out?

"Amy," he said, the realization hitting him like a brick. People did know what he missed about Maria. It explained why everyone other than Darius and Sabina was nice to him. He hadn't spent much time around Sabina, but he knew that Darius was a good friend.

The fox was so much like the hedgehog that it was creepy. There was a mutual understanding between the two. They didn't need to talk much to get a point across. Their minds worked alike.

He turned his head. Amy was standing in the doorway, looking out at the garage. He knew that she hadn't been looking at the garage before. She had just shifted her gaze to avoid giving him the impression that she was looking at him. Shadow shook his head, then teleported off.

In the garage, Tails and Sabina were working on the X-Tornado, while Cream kept herself busy asking questions, giving the foxes tools, helping her mother, and running drinks to the foxes. After replacing the gyro, the foxes had put the engine back in its place, then took the other one out and cleaned it. This was done much faster than Tails had imagined possible. Sabina was not what she seemed.

She was standing next to Cream, talking. Tails watched the two from inside the right engine housing.

"Wow, Sabina. Your really amazing" said Cream, looking up at the normally snow-white fox. Instead of being white, her fur was caked with grease and oil, just like Tails. "Your as smart as Tails. And if you tried, I bet you could be a model."

"Nonsense, Cream. I'm not that pretty," said the fox, humbly.

"I think so. I hope that I'm as pretty as you when I grow up."

"You'll be beautiful," said the normally snow-white fox, patting the rabbit on her check. Cream smiled. She liked Sabina.

"Hey, Sabina," called Tails. Sabina looked apologetically at Cream, who smiled. The normally snow-white fox walked over to Tails, who asked her something. She nodded her head, the crawled up into the engine housing.

Around the world, small pieces of the Ark fell though the atmosphere, most of them burning up as they entered the atmosphere. However, five objects sustained no damage as the fell though the thick atmosphere and impacted the planet's surface.

A red echidna opened his eyes and stood up, waking up the bat that was asleep at his side. He could feel the Master Emerald's presence. The bat looked at him, he eyes wide and curious.

"The Master Emerald. I can feel it," said the echidna. The bat's ears perked up as soon as she heard his voice.

"Where?"

"I'm not entirely sure just yet. I think it's falling." The bat stood up, stretching.

"Come on. We need to get in touch with Sonic."

"All right," she yawned. "Let me wake up." As she stood up, he grabbed her by the waist, laying her on her back. She looked up at him. Their lips meant. As they kissed, she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him back down to the ground. He broke the kiss, laughing.

"Come on, Rouge. We've got to get the Master Emerald."

"Oh, fine," said the bat, looking the echidna in the eyes. "But lets not take to long." The echidna looked at her.

"Your not going to try to steal it, anymore, are you?"

"What would be the point? If anything, I'll steal it back." They kissed once more, before heading back to the small town they had passed a few hours earlier.

Nazo opened his eyes. The Ark was gone, destroyed. His weapon had been destroyed. The Eclipse Cannon was useless to start with. He had been hopping to use the power converters on the station to harness the power of the Emeralds. But now, it was impossible. He stood up, waiting for the pain in his legs to subside. That fox had grown stronger, that was for sure. But it was obvious that his memory wasn't back. Nazo thought that he could use this to his advantage.

"That fox is strong, isn't he?" Nazo jerked at the sound of the voice.

"Who's there?" he asked, hoping to avoid a fight. He knew he was too weak to win. Out from behind him, a cat walked up. He was huge, as tall as that fox, probably taller, and much heavier.

"Just a cat with a problem. A problem that you also have."

"That fox?" asked Nazo, sitting up. It was too dark to see more than the outline of the cat.

"Indeed. That fox has caused my master problems. He keeps getting in his way." The cat's voice was very deep. "We need him…taken care of. In exchange for you services, we can give you almost anything you want. Name your price." Nazo thought for a minute.

"What I want is probably what your master wants." The cat laughed.

"I highly doubt that."

"Really? Then what is it he wants?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that, for I'm not entirely sure what it is myself. However, it's not world domination."

"That's not what I'm after, either," said Nazo. He wasn't entirely bluffing, either. The big cat laughed.

"Then what is your price, Mr. Nazo? What are you seeking in this world?"

"You'll find out soon enough," said the hedgehog. "Who is this master your referring to?"

"My master will give you his name when you have proven yourself worthy."

"I'm in," said Nazo, accepting a hand from the big cat. The two walked off into the forest.


	18. Chapter 18

_Judgment chapter 18_

_The sun was setting outside of Tails' house. It was a beautiful sunset, probably one of the most beautiful that Tails could recall seeing. The X-Tornado was the only machine in the garage at the moment. All of the various machines were normally in the garage were out in the back yard. The X-Tornado was undergoing extensive modification in the garage. Between him and Sabina, there was nothing that couldn't be fixed. The snow-white fox was an incredible mechanic, capable of things that Tails wasn't. But he learned from her, and she learned from him._

_The X-Tornado had undergone a complete makeover, receiving upgrades that Tails had only dreamed of in the past. The engines had been rebuilt, their power increased dramatically. The airframe had been streamlined, and with the new engines, would allow the X-Tornado to almost double its previous top speed. Even more unexpected was the addition of weapons. With some help from Shadow, who was in a very odd mood, Tails had gotten a hold of several powerful weapons that would make the X-Tornado much more deadly, if need be. On top of this, it now seated eight._

_Sabina walked out into the back yard, her fur incredibly messy from all the grease and oil. But she didn't seem to mind much. She was talking with Cream, who seemed to like the normally snow-white fox._

_Darius had asked everyone to meet him at Tails' house. He apparently had something that needed to be done. Everyone was curious about it, and agreed to show up. Apologizing, Sabina went back to Amy's house to clean up. Tails went and took a shower in his own house._

_Amy was standing in her kitchen, cooking. Vanilla had asked the pink hedgehog if she would mind cooking a little for the little meeting that night. Amy was happy to agree. She enjoyed cooking. Without warning, Shadow walked in though the back door. Amy saw him, somewhat startled._

"_Is Darius here?" asked the ebony and crimson hedgehog._

"_Darius? No," she replied. "I don't know where he is. He might be with Tails." Shadow nodded his head, indicating that had heard her. But he didn't leave. Instead, he walked into the kitchen. Amy wondered why he was still here, but didn't ask. Instead, she continued cooking, trying to ignore him. He was probably waiting for Darius to show up, or something like that. Either way, she focused on her cooking. When she noticed Shadow standing over her shoulder, she spoke. "It's a stew. If your hungry, you'll have to wait until it's finished." Shadow didn't say anything, but continued staring._

_Amy turned around, looking the hedgehog in the eyes. She was starting to get annoyed._

"_What is it you want, Shadow?" Only then did she realize that the ebony and crimson hedgehog was not looking at the stew. He was looking at her, his face indicating that he was deep in thought. All thoughts left her mind. The looked each other in the eye for a good minute or two. Then, much to her surprise, he reached out, placing his head against her face very gently. She looked at his hand, then back at his face. However, he withdrew his hand and walked out of the house, leaving her alone. After a few seconds, she fell to her knees, remembering to breath. "Shadow," she whispered, tears coming to her eyes._

_Sabina walked past Shadow, who looked extremely troubled. Not paying much mind to him, she walked into the house. As she walked in the door, she heard the sound of cooking._

"_Hey, Amy? Can I take a shower?" asked the fox, wanting to get the oil and grease out of her fur. However, she quickly noticed that something was off. "Amy? Are you ok?"_

"_Yea. I'm fine. Go ahead," she said, standing up. Sabina rushed over to her._

"_Amy, what's wrong?" The hedgehog lookup up at the fox, not bothering to hide the tears in her eyes. She knew that the fox was aware of he distress._

"_I…I just don't know. I think…I'm in love…" said Amy, now leaning on the fox._

"_Shadow," was the response from the fox. Amy's intensified crying told the fox she was right. "Don't worry about it, Amy. I'm sure he'll come around."_

"_No, he won't," cried the pink hedgehog. "That's what everyone said about Sonic, but he never once told me how he felt. He always played games with my heart."_

"_Listen, Amy," said Sabina. "Shadow is nothing like Sonic. Your stove is on fire."_

"_I know…wait, what?"_

"_Your stove is fire!" yelled Sabina, running to get a fire extinguisher. By the time she came back into the room, Amy was standing over the stove, making sure the soup hadn't burned. "What? You already put it out?"_

"_Yes," said the pink hedgehog, laughing. "That happens when the water boils over. But leave the extinguisher here. I might need it when you're in the shower," she said, laughing. Sabina smiled, and then went upstairs._

_Amy smiled to herself. She knew that Sabina hadn't been trying to make her laugh, but the stove had taken her mind off Shadow. When it drifted back, the sadness didn't return. Sabina was right. Shadow was not Sonic._

_Tails looked at the X-Tornado. For the most part, he and Sabina had put it back together. But there were still a few things that needed to be added before putting on the skin and re-painting it. He admired the way in which the snow-white fox worked. She moved like liquid, all her movements perfect. _

_Cream walked up beside Tails. No one had been allowed the in garage when the two foxes started welding. Tails didn't want someone catching on fire, which was very likely, considering how easy fur burned. Now, as the rabbit got a good look at the X-Tornado, she let out a little gasp. It was much more impressive than it had been before._

"_Wow, Tails. You and Sabina did an amazing job. It looks nice," she said._

"_Thanks," replied the fox, more modest than he should have been. He had a right to brag. The new version of the X-Tornado was beautiful. "Were about finished, though."_

"_No, your not," said a voice behind him. He and Cream turned around. Shadow was standing behind them. The ebony and crimson hedgehog walked over to the automatic garage door opener, and opened the door. "Not even close."_

"_What do you mean?" asked Tails, curious. Shadow walked out the garage door, followed by Tails, who stopped dead in his tracks. Darius pulled up into the yard, driving a huge truck with a long trailer. "What's all this?"_

"_Your new toys," said Darius, getting out of the truck. Tails walked over to the trailer, trying to take the covering off of one of the large objects. "Don't touch them yet, Tails. Not until tonight." The young fox nodded, though looked like he might die of curiosity. "Trust me, you'll like these."_

_Around 10:00, everyone was gathered in the front yard, eating. Tails had set up some of the lights from the garage to light the yard up. Amy had walked over, pulling a wagon behind her, which was full of food. Coupled with Vanilla's cooking, there was more than enough to eat._

_The Chaotix had been invited, though they were too busy to come. Not that this bothered Darius, who was obviously masterminding the operation._

"_Anyway," said the ebony and crimson fox, standing up. "Yes, the Ark has been blown up. No, I don't know what happened to Nazo. No, I won't talk about it._

"_The issue right now is the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald. Apparently, Knuckles called earlier, saying he had the Master Emerald, and was already tracking it. That leaves four Chaos Emeralds to be retrieved. In the past, you've done this together as a group. I have no problem with you doing that this time. However, I'm going after a particular Emerald myself, and I want Sabina to come with me." He looked at the snow-white fox, who looked surprised. "It's en-route to another Emerald, and is the second farthest away. If you wouldn't mind," he said, looking at Tails. "I would like you to drop us off on the way. There is no possible way the X-Tornado can access the location of the Emerald, as it's buried deep in a cave. That's why I only want one person with me. I'm very sure of its location, but I do want some help, in case anything goes wrong._

"_Tails, you and Sonic will be going after the Emerald in the far north. At top speed, it's nearly three hours north of the point that you'll be dropping Sabina and I off at._

"_Shadow, I want you and Amy go after the third Emerald. It's very far south of here, and would add almost an entire day to the time required to get the Emeralds. I'm aware that you can still use Chaos Control." Amy and Shadow both looked at the fox, seemingly protesting. "If you don't like this, I could always swap out Amy and Sonic." No one was keen on this idea._

"_What about the fourth Emerald?" asked Cream._

"_That's the one that scares me. Its resting place is going to be very hard to access. I think we can get the first three and get back here in two days, if things go smoothly. But I want everyone together on the fourth Emerald._

"_It's setting in a place, the name of which I'm not entirely sure. The only reference to a name of the location literally translates out to Hell. Apparently, thousands of people died there over a thousand years ago. I'm not entirely sure why, though._

"_Anyway, that's what I've got planned. However, it will probably be a couple of days before we can leave. There is still much work to be done."_

"_Not really," said Sabina. "Tails and I can have X-Tornado ready in a few hours."_

"_Wrong," said Darius, smiling. "I'll show you why after we eat. But for now, enjoy the food."_

_Everyone enjoyed the meal. Amy's stew was incredible. Amy didn't expect Vanilla to like it as much as she did, considering that her cooking skills far surpassed that of the pink hedgehog. However, she liked Amy's stew enough to ask for the recipe._

_Tails, Sabina, and Darius ate much faster than the rest of them. They walked into the garage. When they got there, Darius told them that they were going to watch the sun rise. They looked at him confused. He walked over to the truck._

"_Come here, Tails. You wanted to see what was under this tarp. Go ahead." The young fox walked over to it. Whatever it was, it was almost as long as the X-Tornado. He started to untie the ropes holding the tarp down. Sabina helped him with this, while Darius looked over a long list, smiling. Finally, the cover was ready to come off of the first package, which was on the very back of the trailer. They took it off._

"_What is that?" asked Tails, his voice loaded with surprise and confusion. However, his question soon answered it's self. It was a long cylindrical tube, though it looked like it was supposed to have a tip on it. It was three feet in diameter, and almost as long as the X-Tornado. There were several places on it that looked like they were meant to be hookups. Sabina opened up a box, looking inside of it, and then to the tube._

"_Is this a laser?" she asked. Both she and Tails turned to Darius._

"_Think you can make it work?" he asked, replacing any questions with the thought of a challenge. "And then make it work on the X-Tornado?" The second part of the question threw Tails off._

"_I don't know if the X-Tornado can carry it. It looks to heavy." Darius just laughed._

"_Have you no faith? You've only seen one of you new toys. Keep going." Tails nodded his head, and then started uncovering everything else. He was getting ready to undo the really big one in the center of the trailer, though Darius stopped him and told him to save that one for last._

_After uncovering most of the packages, Tails was unable to believe that all this was for the X-Tornado. However, the real treat came when he uncovered one of the packages that was actually inside the truck. Darius had gotten a hold of two more engines that were almost the same as the ones on the X-Tornado._

_He turned to Darius._

"_Are you suggesting what I think your suggesting?"_

"_I don't know," said Darius. "Are you thinking tweaking the hell out of the X-Tornado?" Tails smiled._

"_Your wrong. We're going to be watching the sun set," said the young fox laughing. His face was filled with joy._

_Amy walked over to where the three foxes were standing._

"_What's the big one in the center?" she asked._

"_Yea," said Tails. "What is that?" Darius walked over to it, and pulled the cover off of the huge object. Everyone that wasn't watching turned their heads when they heard the gasping._

"_That's….that's…." stuttered Tails, not believing what he was seeing._

"_The power converter for the biggest Ion drive engine on the planet. But that's not for the X-Tornado. That's for something that I was hoping you and Sabina would help me with after this business with the Chaos Emeralds is over._

_Tails shook his head, smiling, though amazed. What did Darius need with such a large power converter? _

_The three foxes started sorting though the parts in the yard, rigging up lighting so they could get to work. It would literally take two days to get everything attached and working._

_Amy walked home, pulling her wagon behind her. She was wondering why Darius had picked her and Shadow to work together. It didn't make a lot of sense to the pink hedgehog. She felt the pain coming back to her. _

_She started carrying dishes into her house and setting them down by the sink. She was getting ready to get the other two dishes from the wagon when she bumped into Shadow. He was carrying both the dishes she needed, much to her surprise. It was very low on the list of things she expected to see. He sat them down by the others before turning to face Amy._

_Their eyes met. Amy could feel chills running down her spine._

"_Shadow," she whispered, unintentionally. As soon as she realized she had, she clamped her hands over her mouth, turning red. But he heard her. The look in his eyes told her that he had heard her. She felt the tears starting to run from her eyes as she ran out of the kitchen into her bedroom. She got there, and then closed the door. Leaning against it, she tried to catch her breath and stop the tears from flowing. _

_She felt her heart start to slow down. It was pulsating violently in her chest. Slowly, her breathing slowed down, but the tears didn't stop._

_Shadow stood in the kitchen, unsure about what had just happened and what to do about it. He had noticed Amy walking home alone. He followed her, intending to help her carry in her dishes. He had done that. When he sat them down, he turned around and made eye contact with her._

_When their eyes made contact, he saw the pink hedgehog shiver. Then, she whispered his name so softly that he could barely hear it. Then, she had put her hands over her mouth and ran out of the room, crying. Despite being the ultimate life form, Shadow was not the smartest life form. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to go talk to her, and see what she was freaking out about. But at the same time, he was scarred to death. He didn't want to upset her._

_Taking a deep breath, he walked up the stairs. He reached the door, and then knocked. He heard Amy inside, freaking out again. His hand grabbed the doorknob and turned it, his mind trying to stop it. He pushed the door open._

_Amy was inside, lying on her bed. Her eyes were red from crying. Shadow shut the door, then slowly walked over to her. Her eyes grew wider as he got closer._

"_Why are you crying?" he asked, his voice tender. It was just enough to drive the pink hedgehog over the edge. She exploded crying, though remained where she was. She didn't know what to do. Shadow was right in front of her, showing concern for her. She wanted badly for him to reach out and pull her into his arms. Blowing almost every thought out her brain, he put his hand on her shoulder._

'_What am I doing?' he thought to himself._

"_Sh…Shadow," she whimpered. She let herself go, falling forward into his chest. Shadow stood still, having lost the ability to think. Amy was crying into his chest, shaking. Shadow didn't know what to do. However, he reacted almost instantly when she fell off her bed. He quickly wrapped his arm around her, preventing her form falling on the ground. Their eyes met. Amy didn't know what to do, what to say. Neither did Shadow._

_Coming back to his senses, Shadow sat Amy down on the bed, their eyes still locked. He slid his arm out from under her. Not thinking, he placed his hands on her hips. Her hands were around his neck._

_Time stood still as they gazed into each other's eyes. Amy stood up, not letting go of Shadow. The ebony and crimson hedgehog could feel his heart racing in his chest. _

_She moved in closer to him, until there was nowhere to go. Shadow was trying not to panic. Her nose touched his, her eyes closing. He felt a shock run down his spine as she continued to rub her nose against his. Her eyes opened slowly. Shadow felt himself shaking. He was nervous. He could smell her breath. It was intoxicating. He now noticed her heart beat. It was pounding in her chest._

_Her arms suddenly tightened around him. Almost as soon as he figured out what had just happened, the gap between them closed._

_He felt her lips, pressed very firmly against his. Any will that he had had left before their lips touched was gone now. He squeezed her, feeling her body press very tightly against his. They remained together for almost thirty seconds before their lips parted. But he could still feel her lips, quivering against his. He kissed her again._

_Amy shifted her weight, causing them both to fall back onto the bed. She could feel the weight of his body, pressing hers into the bed. But no pain came from it. It was the most sensual thing she had imagined. He broke the kiss._

_Amy opened her eyes. Shadows crimson eyes were staring into hers. Slowly, he got up off of her. He ran downstairs. Amy lay on her bed, confused. Then, she ran after him._

_Shadow leaned against the doorway leading into the kitchen, his heart pounding. After a few seconds, he stumbled into the kitchen and sat down. Never in all his life had he been so confused. But the confusion was forgotten as soon as all of his memories exploded into his head. Shadow yelled. The memories hurt him. Oh god, they hurt him._

_Amy heard Shadow's yell. She took off running to the sound of his voice. He was doubled over by the sink, throwing up. Amy stopped dead in her tracks. Was it her fault he was like this? Was it because she had kissed him? He yelled again, his hands clamped around his head. Not caring, she ran over to him, trying to help him in any way possible._

_Darius turned his head, looking at Tails. The young fox was welding a new engine housing onto the X-Tornado. The other one was already on. Sabina had already set one of engines in the mounting, and was now hooking it up. Cream walked into the garage, carrying a plate with drinks on it._

"_Wow!" yelled the rabbit, surprised. "You guys are so fast!" She didn't leave, instead staying and watching. Vanilla came in to see what Cream had yelled about. Upon seeing that nothing was wrong, she smiled and went back in the house._

_Darius laughed to himself before sliding the welding eye-cover back down. He was busy setting up rigs so that the laser would fit on the X-Tornado, the tip of the laser sticking out from the tip of the plane a couple of feet. He was enjoying himself, though not as much as Tails and Sabina._

"_I guess Shadow was right," he said. "Foxes are all technicians." Tails exploded out laughing. The young fox shook his head, setting down his welding torch. He walked over to Sabina to help her with the engine she was hooking up. He had decided that he wanted to put the new engines on the outside of the original ones. Needless to say, there was no skin on the X-Tornado. Every part of the plane was exposed. "Let's hurry up and get the other engine on. We're going to have to raise the plane up so I can set the laser in place."_

"_Ok," said Tails, walking over to where the other engine was setting. He had then set up so that he could just align the engine up to the plane and push the engine in, or pull it out. Without any trouble, the young fox pushed the engine into the plane. He started to wire it in._

_Shadow opened his eyes slowly. His head was throbbing violently. He quickly closed his eyes again. He could feel Amy beside him, holding him. Shadow again opened his eyes. He could see that he was now doubled over in front of a toilet. He closed his eyes again, feeling another wave coming. He threw up, shaking as he did so. He could hear it hitting the water. Amy's hand was pressed gently against the back of his head. She was gently stroking his back with her other hands._

_After ten minutes, the pain had finally passed. Shadow fell backwards, surprising Amy. He laid on his back for a few seconds before slowly getting up. He could feel Amy supporting him. He tried to stand up on his own, but couldn't. He was too lightheaded. He leaned into the pink hedgehog, who instead of leading him out of the bathroom, turned him in different direction. He opened his eyes, seeing that he was almost to the bathtub._

"_Amy, I'm ok. I'll be fine." His voice was weak. It didn't convince her at all._

"_Shadow, just trust me. The water will feel nice," she replied, her voice soft and comforting. Shadow had never allowed himself to be babied before in his life. Now, he was helpless against it. He laid down in the empty tub. Amy started to take off his shoes, but couldn't figure out how. Shadow sat up, opening his eyes. He knew that he couldn't stop her, so he decided to help her. Only then did it occur to him that he had never taken off his shoes. But before he could to anything, he heard something click. Soon after, he felt his right shoe come off. He closed his eyes again, the headache returning. His left soon followed. Then, she took off his gloves. Only then did he notice that she had taken off hers. _

_The pink hedgehog started to run warm water in the tub. Shadow let out moan of relief. She was right; the water did feel good, and she was keeping it at just the right temperature._

"_Going up," said Tails, as he clicked the button on the lifting jacks. The X-Tornado rose above their heads. Darius and Sabina quickly move the laser underneath the plane, taking care to make sure it was under the recess that they had put into it. Slowly, Tails started to lower the plane. When it was less than five inches from the laser, he stopped. Darius and Sabina rotated the laser some, and then gave Tails a notice to come over to them._

"_This cannon weighs about 300 pounds. When Sabina and I lift it up, I want you to lock the hookups. I can easily hold the cannon myself, but not in position. Get the ones on Sabina's end first."_

"_Ok," said Tails, grabbing his socket wrench and walking down to Sabina._

"_On three," she said, looking at Darius, who nodded. "One…two…three!" On three, Darius and Sabina grunted, lifting up the heavy cannon. Tails quickly slid two bolts into place, taking the weight off of Sabina, who remained where she was. She quickly ran over to Darius, helping him support the massive weight of the cannon. Tails ran forward, sliding the two more bolts into place. When they were in, Darius walked backwards and lifted the cannon from the center. Tails and Sabina started to the other 28 bolts in place, tightening them as they went. When they were all in, Darius allowed the X-Tornado's frame alone to support the cannon. The three foxes slapped high-fives, then got back to work, getting the plane ready._

_Shadow opened his eyes. He couldn't believe what was happening at that moment. He was lying in Amy's bathtub, enjoying a nice, hot bath. But the hardest thing to believe was that Amy was there, with him. She was sitting outside the tub, gently rubbing his shoulders._

"_What happened to you earlier? Why did you run out?" she asked softly._

"_I don't know. I just ran into the kitchen. When I got there…I think all of my lost memories came back to me. But it hurt. That's why I screamed. The pain made me throw up," said Shadow, not believing the words coming out of his mouth. Part of him wanted to just stay with Amy forever. Part of him wanted to get the hell out of there._

_Amy didn't say anything. She pressed her head against his, and then laid it down on top of his. She was getting tired, and he knew it. He stood up slowly, not feeling any pain. She handed him a towel. _

"_Go to bed, Amy."_

"_Are you coming?" she asked, not at all kidding. Shadow looked at her. Her eyes were pleading him to come with her. "Please," she begged, pressing up against him. Every fiber in his body told him to say no, to run._

"_Yes."_

_Amy walked away, locking all the doors to the house, something that she rarely did. Then, she took him by the arm and led him upstairs. He sat down on her bed, stretching out. Finally, he laid down. She walked in a few seconds later, wearing a nightgown. She crawled on top of him, closing her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her. Within minutes, both were asleep._

_Tails turned his head to look at the clock. It was already 3:30 A.M. They had just finished starting. Now, the wings were off, both being modified. Darius had brought several energy weapons of different sizes. The one that sat closest to the wing was the equivalent of a 30mm cannon. The next three out were equivalent to .50 caliber machine guns. On top of this, there were two rocket-launchers on each wing. But the biggest addition of all was the rear-facing turret._

_The young fox got a drink and started working again. This was going to take a while._


	19. Chapter 19

_Judgment chapter 19_

_Tails wiped the sweat off his brow. Both of the wings of the X-Tornado had been equipped with their new weapons. Now, the young fox was sitting in the cockpit, setting up controls for the massive arsenal that he and two friends had spent the entire night setting up. _

_Sabina was busy trying to get the power exchanger system calibrated to handle the increased strain that would be put upon it. The process was going smoothly, though final calibration would take place when the aircraft was under power._

_Darius was tending to the large laser cannon underneath the aircraft. The X-Tornado's landing gear had to be modified to allow landings. After the landing gear modification had been complete, the laser had to be connected to the power exchanger box._

_Outside, the sun was starting to peak over ocean. The first to notice this was Shadow. The ebony and crimson hedgehog woke up slowly, his body fighting him. As he awoke, he noticed that there was something lying on him. Slowly, his eyes focused in._

"_Amy?" he asked, surprised. He quickly remembered what had taken place the night before. As he stared at her peacefully sleeping figure, he started to wonder if she was dreaming. The pink hedgehog was no longer on the top of his chest. Her body had slid off to the left of his. However, her head was just above his heart. Shadow laughed a little, watching her head bounce to the beat of his heart. It was such an odd feeling to him to be deeply happy._

_Shadow's mind was void of all thoughts that didn't relate to the pink hedgehog asleep on his chest. He wrapped his left arm around her, flipping her more onto him. With his left hand, he gently started to stroke her quills. Slowly, she opened her eyes._

_Shadow couldn't help but smile when her eyes met his. She was just so beautiful. Shadow felt his heart speed up when she closer her eyes, pressing her face in his chest._

_Amy listened to the heartbeat of the ebony and crimson hedgehog, which her head was lying on. She was happier than she had ever been, not to mention better rested. Now, she didn't want to move at all. However, she made herself sit up. Shadow looked at her, curious. Her quills were in her face._

"_Wow," said Shadow, just quietly enough that she couldn't quite understand what he was saying. She reached up, brushing her quills out of her eyes._

"_What?" she asked, bending forward. Now, she was above him, her face hovering just inches from his. Their eyes met._

"_Your beautiful," he said, mesmerized by her face. He reached up, putting his hands on her face. She smiled, slowly lowering herself. Once she was lying on top of him, she pressed her nose up against his. From there, she closed the gap between their lips. They parted, looking at each other. _

_Suddenly, they heard something. They looked each other in the eyes for a moment before running over to the window to see what had happened._

_Darius turned to Tails, smiling. The X-Tornado was shaking, the engines coming online. It had so much power, and it was just begging to be unleashed. Up in the cockpit, Tails returned the smile. He started to back the plane out of the garage._

_Sabina held her hands over her ears. The unexpected roar of the engines firing up was much louder than she had anticipated. How Darius could just stand there, guiding Tails out was beyond her._

_Tails sat in the cockpit, the runway before him. Under him, the X-Tornado was gently shaking. The young fox looked forward, gripping the controls._

"_Holy shit," muttered Shadow, surprising Amy, who hadn't heard him talk like this. The X-Tornado was sitting out in the sunlight, her engines running. The ground behind the aircraft looked like it was starting to melt._

"_It's incredible," said Amy, astonished that the three foxes had managed to do so much in such a short time. Sabina ran out to the plane, getting in behind Tails. On the ground, Darius was checking out something at the nose of the aircraft. Then, the ebony and crimson fox ran backwards, throwing his hands down. _

_Suddenly, the sound of the engines multiplied. Even Shadow put his hands over his ears._

_Tails looked at the power gauges. Then, he let go of the brake. The X-Tornado lurched forward, achieving lift almost instantly. The young fox pulled back on the flight stick, pulling the plane into a perfectly vertical assent. The power of the engines made itself apparent, as the X-Tornado rose like a rocket. Down on the ground, Darius watched, smiling._

"_That will do, fox. That will do."_

_Cream ran out of the house, looking like she had just woken up. Within seconds of the door slamming shut, she was at Darius' side, staring up._

"_I can't see it," she said, looking up. "But I can tell that it's there."_

"_Wait until he brings it back by," said the fox, walking back into the garage._

_Same day_

_8:30 P.M._

_Once again, everyone was gathered outside of Tails' house, eating and having a good time…everyone other than Darius. Tails was talking to Cream and Vanilla. The three were standing in the kitchen, Vanilla trying to explain to Cream how to correctly prepare a certain dish. Tails was just helping to carry the food out. Amy, who was sitting down with Sonic, was busy trying to keep Sonic from eating all the bread rolls they had set out. Shadow was chatting with Sabina about the new weapons systems that had been installed on the X-Tornado. He explained to the snow-white fox where he had got them from, and wanted to make sure that they worked._

_Much to the ebony and crimson hedgehog's amazement, Sabina was easily able to understand what he was saying. Shadow had thought that the design for the laser was fairly complex. Though his creator had designed it several years ago, it was still a good one. The Eclipse Cannon had shared a similar, though much larger design._

"_So, Knack delivered?" asked Sabina, just wanting to make sure._

"_Yes," replied Shadow, looking at the large laser under the X-Tornado. "I just hope it works as well as it's supposed to." He opened his mouth, putting a handful of olives in his mouth._

"_I think it will," said the snow-white fox, looking around. Tails had just come out of the house, followed by Cream and Vanilla. All were carrying bowls of food. "Where's Darius at? I haven't seen him since we got back from the test flight."_

"_No idea," said Shadow, walking over to the table. Sabina soon followed._

"_Eat up," said Vanilla, smiling happily. She started to pass the bowl she was holding around. Cream and Tails did the same, though Tails got some food out of his._

_Everyone ate, enjoying the food and chatting. The upcoming days were the last things on everyone's minds. The fact that Darius wasn't there hadn't registered on anyone's mind, other than Sabina's. The snow-white fox was starting to wonder if he had been hurt. Amy noticed the snow-white fox's slight distress._

"_Hey, Sabina. What's bothering you?"_

"_Darius," replied Sabina, setting her spoon down. "He's not here, and I don't have any idea where he is." The pink hedgehog looked at the snow-white fox, surprised. Then, she looked around. _

"_You're right," said Amy. "He's not here."_

"_Who?" asked Tails, looking up. "Oh, you're looking for Darius. He said something about wanting to be alone tonight. I'm not sure why. He looked like something was bothering him."_

"_Where did he go?" asked Amy, taking the words out of Sabina's mouth._

"_He asked me not to say unless it was an emergency. His definition of emergency including people dying." Everyone looked at Tails, not believing the words coming out of the fox's mouth. "I'm willing to bet that he just wants to relax before we go and get the Chaos Emeralds," said Tails, his voice reassuring. It seemed to have the desired affect. Everyone calmed down a little and went back to eating and talking. Sonic started telling jokes, one of which caused Tails to fall off the table bench, laughing hysterically. Amy, who was sitting across from Shadow and beside Sonic, gave Sonic a look that told him to stop telling jokes so they could eat. Sonic seemed to get the message, but ignored it. He continued telling jokes until Amy got her hammer out and started yelling at Sonic. This didn't have the desired affect, as it only caused everyone to laugh even harder than they were. Even Sabina seemed to forget about Darius for a while. Sonic took advantage of the situation, stealing Amy's hammer and running off with it. She conjured up another one, and took off after her former crush._

_This continued for a little over two hours, with everyone playing games and listening to music. Sabina and Tails managed to rig up the stereo Tails had sitting in the second floor of his garage up. This greatly increased the volume at which the music could be played. Between Sabina and Tails, it seemed that there was nothing that couldn't be fixed. Even Sabina was laughing and having a good time. By now, Darius' absence had been accepted and forgotten._

_Not too far away from the party, Darius opened his eyes and looked up at the stars. He was lying in the ocean, enjoying the peace and quiet, at least until the music started. He didn't mind, though. It was as relaxing as the silence, perhaps more so. So much was on his mind, yet so little seemed to matter. _

_The ebony and crimson fox was focusing on a memory that had surfaced inside him. But it was still very faint, very foggy. From what he could tell, he wasn't alone, though that was about it. It didn't seem all that important to him, anyway._

_The song changed again, this time to an old rock song that Darius liked. The words of the song were very symbolic of a war, and his life, it seemed. Darius started singing along very softly._

"_I can't remember anything, can't tell if this is true or dream._

"_Deep down inside I feel the strain, this terrible silence stops with me._

"_Now that the war is through with me, I'm waking up I cannot see,_

"_That there's not much left of me, nothing is real, but pain now,_

"_Ohh, my breath as I wish for death….oh please, god, wake me." Darius inhaled deeply, looking up at the sky, wondering who he was. The waves came and went, rubbing gently against his body. Life seemed to slow down. _

_The song changed styles, transitioning from it's peaceful and painful start to the darkness riff. Darius looked closed his eyes, allowing the music to soak deep into him. It seemed to be the only thing that could provide comfort when he was most upset._

_The ebony and crimson fox wasn't one to show others his pain, and as far as he could remember, he never had been. Now, the water and the music were easing the pain, easing his aching mind. The pain had nothing to do with the fact that he hadn't slept the night before, or the noise, or anything else. It was more emotional than anything. _

_He wanted to know what had happened in is past. He wanted to know how he could use those powers he had. He wanted to know how he had gotten that sword, how old he was, if Darius was his real name, if Sabina loved him. He jerked up as the last thought ran across his mind, completely freaked out. What the hell did he want to know that for?_

_He lay back down, allowing the water to engulf him once more. It was just his mind asking questions that didn't matter. Or did they? He would be spending the next two or three days with the snow-white fox alone. The idea didn't bother him until now. She hadn't shown any signs or affection for him…or had she? He couldn't remember, and he suddenly didn't care. There were more important things on his mind._

_Another memory had surfaced. Now, he knew where he had gotten the sword…kinda. The blade had come from a room, deep within a castle…or was it a castle? He couldn't remember. But where was the castle? This, he didn't know. _

_On another note, why had Amy and Shadow suddenly gotten together? The two hedgehogs thought that they were the only ones who knew, though they were wrong. Darius was sure that he was the only other person aware of the relationship. Perhaps pairing them up had been a bad idea. The last thing he needed was to lose one, or perhaps two, fighters because one was pregnant._

"_Fuck it," he said, laughing gently. The idea of little Shadow and Amy babies running around was just too funny. At worst, they would have their mother's attitude and their father's powers. Darius laughed very hard when he pictured a little black hedgehog with pink stripes, chasing Sonic around, trying to hit him with a Chaos Sphere. Indeed, the idea was hilarious._

_Darius' sensitive ears picked up the sound of footsteps. He turned his head. He didn't believe what his eyes were seeing._

_Sabina. In a white bikini. Darius' mind stopped. Dumbstruck was an understatement. _

_The moonlight reflecting off of her mostly white fur gave her the look of a goddess. The red streaks that ran though her fun increased the effects of her heavenly appearance. Her long, white hair was as shiny as the rest of her fur. There were no shoes or gloves._

_Had Tails gave away his location? Darius decided that the young fox hadn't said a word, and that Sabina was out here by chance. For a second, he thought he would be noticed. However, her eyes skimmed over him several times, not seeing him. The ebony and crimson fox smiled, sinking back down into the water. His fur was among the blackest substances on the planet, and he knew it. At times, it seemed to absorb the light._

_Sabina laid her towel down, and then walked into the water. Darius found it impossible to look away from her. The clothes that she normally wore hid it, but she was incredibly beautiful. The part that amazed Darius the most was that she didn't seem to care about her beauty. She seemed more concerned with working. Darius gently laughed to himself. She seemed to enjoy getting dirty. Then, he heard her talking to herself. At first, he wasn't sure what she was saying, but he quickly tuned in._

"_Why is it that this is happening? Hell, what's happening? I wake up one day, and feel an urge to go walk the beach. I meet that echidna. Then, he brings back that bat. Now, I'm stuck here with no idea why. I don't want to go home." She shook her head, and then walked deeper into the water, before diving. She came up a few seconds later, and swam around for a while._

_Darius watched her closely, deep in thought. Not only was she beautiful, she was graceful, more so than anyone he had ever seen. The ebony and crimson fox was basically spying on her, and he knew it. Truth be told, he didn't care. She surfaced, swimming back to the spot where she had entered the water._

_She sat down, the water coming up just past her waist when she was sitting. She wrapped her arms around her long legs, resting her chin on her knees and gazing up to the stars. Her tails were drifting lazily with the tide. She was just staring, not saying a word now. Darius looked at her face. He thought he could make out tears on her face. For some reason, this struck him deeply. He wanted to speak, but didn't know what to say. Finally, words came to him._

"_Lay down in the water. It's calming." She jerked her head in his direction, not seeing him. She stared at the spot where the voice had come from, confused. Darius laughed, realizing just how invisible he was. He waved his arm up in the air. She couldn't see it._

"_Who's there?" she asked, her voice strong. She was trying to hide her emotions. Finally, Darius focused his energy. A fireball grew in his hand, illuminating his torso. Sabina's face displayed several emotions. Darius stuck his hand in the water, wondering if the fire would still burn. To his surprise, it did as long as he pumped energy into it. He cut the flow._

"_Just lay down in the water. It's calming, relaxing."_

"_How…how long have you been there?"_

"_Since it got dark, I think. I haven't been paying much attention to the passing of time." He saw the snow-white fox get up and walk over to him. She was less than four feet away when she too lay down in the water. Neither of them spoke for a while._

"_What time do you think it is?" she asked after a while. Her voice was now much calmer._

"_Probably about two or three. Why?"_

"_What?" she asked, sitting up. "How is it that late. It only feels like I've been here for half an hour."_

"_You've been asleep, I think. You seemed upset when you were sitting over there. When you clear your mind after your emotions are running wild, you tend to doze off for a while. At least, that's what happens to me." Darius stood up, stretching. He looked down at Sabina, who was looking at him with a curious expression on her face._

"_Why do you wear clothes? Most guys don't wear any at all, or very little. They only dress up for special occasions."_

"_I don't know," he replied, suddenly jerking his head towards Tails' garage, his ears perking up._

"_What is it?" she asked, standing up, also looking in the direction._

"_It just occurred to me that Vann's been gone for a while," said Darius, his eyes narrowing._

"_Do you think that he's over there?" she asked. But before she had a chance to say the second half of the sentence, he had teleported off. However, he quickly came back._

"_No one's awake over there. I guess it was just something falling."_

"_You can hear what's happening from over there from here?" she asked, amazed._

"_Easily. It's very quite outside right now." He turned back to the snow-white fox. "I'm going to sleep. If you want to stay out here with me, you can. If not, I suggest you go back to Amy's and take a shower. Your fur is different than mine. I don't think that you would be happy with the affects of the salt water. Some warm water would do your fur good. Besides," he said, turning his back and looking over his shoulder. However, he didn't continue._

"_Your sleeping in the water?" she asked, giving him an odd look. He hadn't finished what he was saying. She decided to ignore it._

"_Yep," was the only reply the ebony and crimson fox gave before he lay back down in the water. Sabina looked at him for a few seconds. But he quickly faded out of view, becoming one with the darkness. Sabina sighed, then picked up her towel and walked over to Amy's house._

_So much was playing though her mind. Darius was easily the foremost thing that she was thinking about. He was invisible in the dark. His fur made him not exist. It was the perfect camouflage. She was happy with hers, by all means. He had told her that she needed to take care of it. For some reason, that made her fur suddenly seem special…to some extent, anyway._

_As she took off her bikini and stepped into the shower, a though crossed her mind._

"_What was he going to say?" she asked herself, pondering the possibilities deeply. What could he have been saying? She considered the possibilities. He could have been complimenting her, but decided not too. Or maybe it was an insult. She didn't know._

_The snow-white fox let the warm water wash the saltwater out of her fur. As it did, she slowly started to relax some, though it was nothing close to lying in the water with the Darius. She sighed, turning up the water's temperature._

_Nazo looked up, somewhat confused. He had followed the big cat though the forest to a truck. There was someone in the front seat, obviously waiting. The big cat jumped into the bed of the truck, motioning for the glowing blue hedgehog to follow._

_Now, they were driving though the forest on a somewhat bumpy road. The big cat was smoking a cigar. Nazo was looking up at the stars, feeling odd. He thought there was something odd going on, though he didn't know what. The cat noticed his distress._

"_Is something bothering you?" As usual, the cat's voice was booming._

"_Somewhat," replied the hedgehog, feeling more helpless than he ever had._

"_And what is it?"_

"_I don't know."_

"_I know that feeling," said the cat laughing. "When I first met my master, I was scared of him. I only wanted to leave. He gave me the choice, and I did. However, I soon came back to him. I've never regretted the decision to do so." The cat took a deep draw from his cigar._

"_Where are we going?" asked Nazo._

"_To the transit point. Once we reach it, you'll understand."_

_They drove in silence for another half-hour. However, they soon came to a large, open area in the forest._

_The big cat got out, followed by Nazo and the driver. Once he stepped into the light, Nazo got a good look at the cat. He was big, bigger than Nazo had first come to think. He towered over the hedgehog by over two foot, maybe more. Either way, he was taller than that fox. His fur was a light shade of yellow, with some random black marks here and there. He was heavily built, having a very muscular frame. Nazo noticed that he was wearing a fairly nice suit that seemed to be struggling to hold his insanely muscular frame in. What appeared to be a very strong belt was tied around his waist. A pair of dark sunglasses covered his eyes. His left ear was pierced, and had a scar running below it. The fur on his head was even with the rest of the fur on his body, giving him no particular hairstyle._

_The driver was also a cat, though he lacked the muscle of the bigger cat. However, he looked strong. His fur was also yellow with random black marks. His left ear was pierced, and thick sunglasses also covered his eyes. He lacked the scar of the other cat. He was wearing a suit similar to that of the other cat, though his was less elaborate, as was the belt he had on._

"_Forgive me for not introducing myself," said the big cat, looking Nazo in the eye. "My name is Chornilieas Bergen. However, my official title is Judge Bergen, Head of the Law Enforcement Counsel. My assistant is Zach Gracmeir," he said, pointing to the smaller cat, who nodded. Nazo also nodded. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go make sure that the transit is going to take place on time. Zach will accompany you around the base. Feel free to get some food or use the facilities." Bergen walked off._

_Nazo turned to the other cat, curious. He was going to speak, cat spoke first._

"_I don't know about you, but I would like a drink," said Zach, with a very heavy French accent. Nazo smiled, motioning for Zach to lead the way. On the way, Zach seemed content to ask Nazo several questions, most of which were simply yes or no answers._

"_Tell me, Zach. What exactly is your title, or do you have one?" asked the glowing blue hedgehog._

"_Ah ha ha. That is funny. I was just asking about that this morning," said the cat, laughing. "Before today, I was always the driver for Judge Bergen. However, he informed me today that I've been officially recognized as a Lesser-Judge. It's an honor. I give Judge Bergen credit for it. Despite how odd he might seem from time to time, he really is a great cat." Zach laughed at his little pun, though Nazo wasn't sure why it was so funny. "What about yourself? What did you do to get recognition from the Master? I can't imagine what would be worthy of sending Judge Bergen out. Even the Master is said to respect the awesome fighting power of him."_

"_I'm not entirely sure," said Nazo truthfully. "I was trying to kill a group of enemies that I have. I was up on an old space station called the Ark. I was attempting to use the power converters on the station to better harness the power of the Master Emerald and the four Chaos Emeralds I had at the time." Nazo took a drink. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was great. "Anyway, an ex-student of mine shows up, and somehow manages to blow up the station. I have no idea how he did it, unless he had a couple of Chaos Emeralds of his own."_

"_That doesn't make much sense at all," said Zach, finishing off another glass. Nazo started trying to figure out how to explain the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald to the Zach, when Zach spoke. "How could anyone be that fast. You weren't by chance fighting Sonic the hedgehog, were you?"_

"_He was one of the people that I want dead, but he wasn't on the station. It was a two-tailed fox, and not the one that is said to normally accompany the hedgehog. This one was black with red streaks in his fur." Zach seemed surprised by this, but asked the hedgehog to continue. "Well, I guess I got knocked out during the explosion. I woke up, and Bergen was standing over me."_

"_That is very odd indeed," said Zach. He looked like he was about to say something, but a phone on his belt went off. He looked up apologetically before pressing a small phone to his ears. He listened to it for a few seconds before putting it up. "Come on. Judge Bergen has everything ready for transport. I hope you don't get as freaked out as I did during my first time. It can be quite a shock to those who aren't expecting it._

_The two walked off, Nazo following Zach. Soon, they came to a large, open platform. Bergen was waiting there, along with a few other people. Zach told Nazo to link hands with the person beside him. Confused, Nazo did as he was told. Before he knew it, Bergen muttered some words. The planet seemed to increase its gravity pull to over thirty times what it normally was. Nazo tried to cover his mouth, but his hands were held in place. However, the feeling only lasted for a few seconds. Soon, he was standing on another platform. Zach gave the hedgehog the signal to follow him. Nazo did as he was told._

_After a few minutes of walking, the cat came to a stairwell. He entered and started heading towards the top of the stairs. Nazo followed. When they got to the top, the glowing blue hedgehog couldn't believe his eyes. _

_They were standing on top of a huge stone pillar close to the center of what looked like an ancient, abandoned city. Behind then, Bergen appeared. The big cat laughed for a seconded, amused by the very obvious awe of the hedgehog. He spoke._

"_Welcome to your new home. Please, feel free __to look around."_


	20. Chapter 20

Judgment chapter 20

Laying in the cold waters of the ocean, a fox opened his eyes. The waves were gently rubbing against his fur. The moon was not yet out of sight, though it would be within minutes. The fox's head was point towards the sky, not paying attention to the sun, which was slowly rising. As it started to come up over the horizon, casting its rays over the surface of the water, the fox noticed it. The sun's rising meant a new day. But the fox wasn't ready to move yet.

Darius hated to have to get up. He wanted to just lay in the water. It was comfortable, surrounding his body, making him almost weightless. Yet he could still feel the sand against his back. It was only now that he could see the sun's rays.

Yet, he wasn't about to move. It would be a while before anyone else was awake. Getting the Chaos Emeralds was the priority for the next few days. He had already figured out how to get them.

So much was playing though his mind. The next few days promised to be hepatic. The thought of at least two days alone with Sabina was starting to scare him. The snow-white fox was a little odd. She acted strange around the ebony and crimson fox, more so as of late than before.

The sound of footsteps caused Darius' ears to perk up. He looked twisted his head, trying to see who it was. A snow-white fox in a white bikini was approaching him. She looked much as she had the night before. But the sunlight didn't do her fur justice. He deserved to be seen under the moonlight.

But he put this thought aside, trying to ignore her presence. He didn't want to be interrupted. But is thoughts kept drifting back to Sabina. The fact that she sat down beside him didn't help.

"What's on your mind?" she asked, wrapping her arms around her legs and setting her head on her knees. He just looked at her before closing his eyes. He didn't feel like talking. Deep inside him, urges were starting to arise. He wanted something that he knew he shouldn't. "Nervous?" she asked, leaning over some. Darius stretched, yawning.

"I'm tired," he said, not entirely lying. He was fairly tired. "My dreams woke me up."

"You didn't try to go back to sleep?"

"I did. It just didn't work."

"Are you ready to start getting the Emeralds?" she asked, the excitement obvious in her voice.

"Sure," he said, fighting the urges. They were becoming more powerful now. Deep inside of himself, he could feel the energy building. Sabina looked like she was going to say something, though didn't. Instead, she gave him an odd look. After a few seconds, he noticed it. "What?" he asked lazily.

"I don't know," she said, confusing apparent in her voice. "I don't know how to describe it."

"What?" he asked, setting up. The energy was building more quickly now. Soon, it started hurting.

"It feels like there are waves of…energy coming off you," she said. Darius looked at her. The pain spiked. It showed on is face. The snow-white fox saw this, rocking forward until she was crouched over on her knees. She put her hands on his shoulders, failing to think about how awkward it would be. Their eyes met. For a second neither moved. Darius shuddered. Sabina's eyes widened. The ebony and crimson fox tightened his fist.

He jerked into a standing position, the pain from the energy causing his muscles to twitch. Sabina stood as well, clueless as to what was happening. The ebony and crimson fox looked out over the ocean. Something within him took over. He held his right hand out, fingers spread. The energy concentrated started to move into his hand. A strange, blue aura appeared. He looked at it for a brief second before, before his arm suddenly jerked, though it was very slight.

Over half a mile from where they were standing, deep below the water, a large amount of pure energy formed. It continued to build for a few second before it lost stability. The energy expanded before contracting violently. Upon contraction, a second reaction occurred, followed by another explosion. This time, the explosion had a huge effect on the water.

On shore, Darius and Sabina saw the water explode. A sphere wave rose out of the water, almost fifteen feet. It continued towards the shore at a high rate of speed. Within thirty seconds, the wave hit the beach, leaving both of the foxes soaked. After a few seconds, they turned to each other, both looking shocked.

"What did you just do?" asked the snow-white fox, very wet.

"I'm not sure," replied Darius. The energy that he had felt was gone. In fact, he felt more tired that he had before. Before Sabina could ask another question, he fell to his knees, suddenly very lightheaded. She was at his side within seconds. A wave of memories hit him like a baseball bat, causing him to lose is breath. However, he quickly recovered.

Despite the fact that she was somewhat concerned, she didn't try to stop the ebony and crimson fox from standing up. The two's eyes met. She stepped back when a red aura formed around his body, blowing the sand around. It continued to build for a few seconds, the wind generated by it growing more and more powerful, kicking up more sand. It aura dispersed from his body, creating a shockwave powerful enough to make Sabina brace herself against the force of the blow. The ebony and crimson fox was now standing in small crater, less than three feet deep, and exactly as wide, though sand was running into it.

Darius opened his eyes. The power that he had just felt…it was so familiar. He didn't know where it came from. He looked from hand to hand, an unreadable look on his face. He felt Sabina's eyes upon him. He looked up, a final bit of wind coming out of nowhere. But the look on Sabina's face was not what he had been expecting.

She looked like she was mesmerized, enchanted, though by what he was unsure. Either way, he walked out of the small crater over to her. He said nothing, looking at her to make sure she wasn't hurt. When he was satisfied that she wasn't, which took less than five seconds, he walked away. However, he paused.

"Get your clothes on and go wake up Tails. Sonic should be there in a few minutes. I'll go wake up Amy," he said, leaving off something. He knew that he wasn't going to wake up Amy. He was going to wake up Amy and Shadow. He didn't give Sabina an chance to say anything to him. He was already halfway to Amy's house when she came to her senses. She cursed herself for being unable to keep her head straight whenever the two were close. But there was little she could do about it. He was just too much for her to fight off.

The sun's rays were starting to come in though the windows, causing a pink hedgehog to slowly wake up. The rays were in her eyes. She simply rolled over, pressing her head into another hedgehog's chest. The other hedgehog wrapped his arms around the pink hedgehog, squeezing her against his chest. Yet, she knew that he wasn't awake. He was dreaming. But the dream didn't last long. It wasn't long before his eyes opened, focusing on her.

"Shadow," whispered the pink hedgehog, her head still buried in his chest.

"Good morning, Amy," he said back, though not exactly whispering. The pink hedgehog looked up at him, her quills falling in her eyes. She lazily brushed them away, smiling. For a few seconds, she continued to look him in the eyes, but she soon buried her head in his chest. She didn't much care that she had only been with him for a little over 24 hours. She was far happier than she could remember being at any time in the past. All she wanted was for him to love her. He was the only thing in the world that she loved so much. She shivered as he nuzzled her ears, kissing her from time to time.

The door opened, causing both Shadow and Amy to freeze up. The door had been locked.

"When you two are finished, meet me over at Tails' garage. I've got a few things to give you two before you head out." Both hedgehogs sat up, both in shock. The voice of the ebony and crimson fox had been unmistakable from the start. However, how he had gotten in was a mystery. The watched as he turned his back and walked down the stairs.

Shadow and Amy turned to each other. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before flying off downstairs to confront the fox, though she didn't' know this. She decided to use the time to put her normal clothes on.

Shadow felt his heart racing. He had been so surprised by the sudden intrusion of the fox. Much to his surprise, Darius was in the kitchen, getting a drink. He hedgehog confronted the fox.

"How did you get in?" he asked, the rage in his voice coming from nowhere.

"The door was unlocked," replied the fox, turning around, a glass in his hand. It was full of orange juice. The fox took a swig.

"No, it wasn't," said Shadow, getting madder. "I know that door was locked. I checked it myself."

"Then I have no idea. The knob turned easily."

"Are you going to tell everyone?" asked Amy, who came thought the doorway, fully dressed. She stood behind Shadow.

"I see no reason to," said the fox. He took another drink. "Why excite everyone?"

"Did you know?" asked Amy, wrapping her arms around Shadow without realizing it.

"Of course," said the fox, an amused look spreading across his face. "It was obvious. When Shadow's distress about you vanished, I guess it just made sense. While we're on the subject, I have something to warn you two about," said Darius, setting glass down behind him. "Wait until after this is over to get Amy pregnant," he said, looking Shadow in the eyes. "If she gets pregnant, then she's going to lose her ability to fight. That will be a burden to the group."

"Is that the only way you can think of it?" asked Shadow, his anger now starting to boil over. He dropped down into a fighting stance. "Are you going to treat her like an object!?" The fox laughed.

"Perhaps you should calm down. I wouldn't want to hurt you. And no, she is not an object. She's a hedgehog. You're right to be defensive of her." This threw Shadow off a little. Walking past him, the fox continued. "Treat her well. She's loves you more than you know. Don't break her heart, or she'll break you."

After Darius was gone, Shadow stood back up all the way. He looked at Amy. Their eyes met. She closed the gap between them with a tight hug. Her lips touched his, causing a long, deep kiss. As Shadow held her, Darius' words rang in his mind.

"I love you Amy," said the ebony and crimson hedgehog. "I love you so much." He squeezed her tighter. He noticed she was crying. He held her out at arms length. "What's wrong?" he asked, alarmed. Her once semi-gentle tears erupted into an all-out crying fit. She buried her head in his chest. She tried to say his name, but was crying too hard. He held her for a few minutes before she finally managed to say something.

"All I've ever wanted was for someone to tell me that," she said, crying even harder. "Sonic never would." The mention of the blue hedgehog renewed Shadow's hate in him. "But you…but you did." Somehow, her crying managed to intensify yet again. "You're the only one. Please…please….don't ever leave me. I love you too." Shadow felt his arm tighten around her, pulling her as close as she could be. He pressed his lips against her head. He whispered her name. She looked up, tears flowing from her eyes. He rubbed his nose against hers before kissing her.

Sabina walked into Tails' house, having put something other than her bikini on. She walked past the kitchen, where Vanilla was scrambling some eggs. The two waved and said hello.

"Tails and Cream are in the garage," said the rabbit, smiling. Sabina hadn't even asked where they were. She guessed that it was motherly instinct, or just obvious, that Vanilla knew that she was looking for Tails.

The snow-white fox continued into the garage. On the way in she pressed the button to open the two massive garage doors. The engine let out a low groan, the started to whine. It wasn't very loud, though. She walked over down the stairs, over to the couch, which had been dragged inside the garage the night before, where Tails was. She could see part of the top of his head over it.

"Hey, Tails," she said, walking past the couch over to the X-Tornado. She was already looking at the new engine on the left when she realized that he hadn't said anything back. She turned around.

The young was sitting up, asleep. Cream was also asleep, her head in his lap. Sabina walked over to them, surprised. When she got there, she realized that they had been watching a movie. She guessed that they had fallen asleep. To the snow-white fox, this was cute. Sabina gently shook Tails, trying to wake him up. It had the desired affect. The young fox's eyes opened slowly. After a few seconds, he came to his senses.

"Hi," he said, finally waking up enough to talk. He tried to stand up, though couldn't. It was only then that he noticed Cream was asleep in his lap. He seemed surprised by this. After a few seconds of staring at her, he slowly pushed her off. This didn't wake the young rabbit. Tails looked up at Sabina, still looking confused. "What's the plan for today?" he asked, stretching. He had more important things on his mind than Cream, though she was slowly rising to the most important.

"Darius told me to tell you that we need to be ready to leave in a couple of hours," replied Sabina, laying a blanket over Cream. "I guess we need to get the X-Tornado ready to fly."

"Ok," said Tails. He made an odd face, followed by the sound of his stomach rumbling. It was loud enough that Sabina could hear it.

"You sound hungry," laughed the snow-white fox. "Maybe you should go talk to Vanilla. She's cooking right now."

"Ok. Good idea," said Tails, laughing. He walked up the stairs into the rest of the house. Only now did Cream wake up. The young rabbit sat up, rubbing her eyes. She yawned, the turned her head, looking around, a somewhat confused look on her face.

"Good morning, Sabina," she said, overly polite as always. "Why am I in here?"

"I guess you fell asleep watching a movie with Tails," replied Sabina, who was now sitting in the cockpit of the X-Tornado, starting the original engines. They had over twice the power that they had had to start with. She knew that if she didn't keep the throttle fairly low, the power from the engines would blow a wall out. She got out, allowing the engines to warm up with what little power was flowing to them. "Would you help me move some of this out of the way so I can the get the X-Tornado out?"

"Of course," replied Cream. She started moving parts of metal out the way of the X-Tornado.

After a couple of minutes, Sabina climbed back into the cockpit of the X-Tornado and increased the engine power, though only by a little. When they equalized, she eased off the brakes, letting the powerful plane roll forward. She looked back, making sure the wings were folding in. The doors to the garage weren't wide enough for the wings to get out of, so they installed a folding wing system. The wings folded rather quickly. Satisfied, she started to bring the X-Tornado out of the garage.

Sitting on the roof of the garage, Darius looked down as the X-Tornado rolled out into the early morning sun. He could see Sabina sitting in the cockpit, with the canopy slid back. The plane's white skin gave it a graceful and peaceful yet deadly impression, one which suited the plane well. As the section with the wings rolled out, the wings started to unfold. The plane kept coming, finally exiting the garage. It was a lot bigger than it looked at first glance.

Despite the planes peaceful appearance, Darius knew that it was built as a weapon. He had made sure that it could defend itself and go on the offensive if need be. It was no toy, yet Tails treated it as though it was. The young fox was very careful with it, never cutting corners when it came to taking care of the plane. There was nothing wrong with this at all.

Darius turned his head to Amy's house. He could see it from up here with ease. Shadow and Amy came out, both carrying small bags. Darius wondered why they would need those, but quickly realized that they were full of supplies. He waited for them to get to Tails' house before he jumped down of the roof. It wasn't until he hit the ground and stood up that he started to wonder how he had gotten up there in the first place. He quickly shifted thinking priorities when Shadow and Amy walked up.

"If something happens, you can use this to call Tails, Vanilla, or myself," said the ebony and crimson fox handing a small device to Shadow. Shadow nodded his head.

"Where do I go, exactly?" asked the hedgehog. Darius held out a map. Shadow looked at it, confused. However, something in his brain clicked. Without ever having been there before, Shadow knew just where to go. He nodded.

"See you when you get back," said Darius. "Also, that phone has a tracker built into it. It will bring you within a few hundred feet of the Chaos Emerald." Shadow nodded his head. He turned to Amy. Their eyes locked for a few seconds before he reached out and grabbed her. Shadow yelled his signature phrase, then disappeared, taking Amy with him.

Darius looked at the stop where they had been. His vision was suddenly filled with blue.

"Are Shadow and Amy already gone?" asked Sonic, not short of breath from running. He almost never was.

"Left just a few seconds before you showed up," replied Darius, staring off into space. He blinked, looking at Sonic. "You might want to get ready. Tails already has everything that the two of you will need. I think that we're going to be leaving quite soon."

"I'm ready whenever you guys are," said the blue hedgehog.

"Breakfast is ready!" yelled Sabina, leaning her head out the doorway that led into the house. Darius looked at Sonic, then walked into the house. The ebony and crimson fox was getting very hungry.

Sabina walked back over to the table where Tails, Cream, and Vanilla were, though she didn't sit down, instead going to the fridge. While everyone else had opted for water, Sabina was craving orange juice. She snow-white fox got herself a large glassful, then sat down next to Vanilla. Tails and Cream were on the opposite side of the table. The two were chatting about what they were going to do when they had the Chaos Emeralds.

At the sound of the door leading into the garage opening, everyone tuned their heads. Darius and Sonic walked in. Sonic was laughing about something, while Darius had a straight face, though it obvious that he was amused.

"Hey, Darius," asked Tails.

"Yea?" responded Darius, trying not to laugh.

"What are we going to do when we have the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Prevent them from falling into the wrong hands, I guess. Keeping them safe is probably the most important thing we can do." Sonic sat down, getting himself some food. But the urge to eat suddenly left Darius. The desire to be alone was overpowering. He tuned around and walked back out the door, leaving everyone wondering why. The curiosity was broken by the sound of someone coughing. Cream had bitten of more than she could chew. Literally.

Darius walked out of the garage, opting to be in dark somewhere. He looked around, then walked into the back yard. It was a mess, though Tails normally kept it somewhat clean. Darius didn't mind the mess, though. He walked around for a few minutes, the sunlight starting to annoy him greatly. He finally ducked behind a large chunk of scrap metal.

The grass he was sitting on was still wet from the dew. The fox was oddly comforted by this. The water seemed to be his friend at the moment. He smiled, remembering what he had done just a few minutes earlier. The fact that he had no idea how or why he had done it didn't seem to bother him at all.

Energy started to build up within him again. He didn't pay much attention, allowing it to build freely. He felt the familiar tingle of power growing around his hands. He looked down at his hand. The aura was blue again. The fox felt oddly at ease with it this time. The pain that had been present the previous time was not appearing. He stood up, allowing the sun's rays to contact with him. He looked around for a few seconds, then focused on what looked like it was once a small lawn mower.

The energy was staring to build more rapidly now, sending tingles though his body. It was almost tickling him. He smiled, holding his hand out. The lawn mower shook a couple of times, them went up in flames. Darius turned around, somehow satisfied. Food was now the most important thing on his mind. The flames engulfing the rusted lawn mower went out.

Tails climbed into the cockpit of the X-Tornado. The young fox started up the outer engines, allowing them to cycle up to idle power. The whining sound of the energy that was starting to flow though the outer engines was music to Tails' ears. But he wasn't the only one enjoying the sounds. Sabina was standing on top of one of the engines. They were loud, but no much so yet that she felt pain. However, she quickly got off of them, climbing into the third seat behind Tails. Sonic was to take the second.

Darius came around the house, drawn by the power emitting from the insanely powerful engines. They were starting to get closer to idle power now, an were surprisingly quiet. Darius knew that this was because they were idling. The four engines were at less than 1/1000 of their full power.

Sonic came out of the house and jumped up into his seat. Sabina was walking around on the outside of the aircraft, looking around for any potential problems while the planes internal diagnostic systems did the same. The ebony and crimson fox looked up to Tails, who was looking down at something inside the cockpit. The young fox looked to Darius, giving him a thumbs up. Darius nodded. He jumped up onto the top of the plane, then crawled down into his seat behind Sabina's. The snow white fox sat down in her seat. Above their heads, the canopies all came down and sealed. Each seat had its own canopy.

Tails looked at the window to Cream and Vanilla. The two rabbits were waving. Cheese was hovering over Cream's shoulder, also waving. The fox waved back, the turned the plane and started to taxi over to the runway. Once there, he smiled.

"Hold on," he said, speaking though the PA system. There was a barrier separating the part of the cockpit that Tails and Sonic had from the part that Darius and Sabina shared.

"Go," said Darius, leaning back in his chair. Tails took one last look at the display readout above the throttle. Them, the let off the brakes and threw the throttle forward, activating the after-burners. The plane shot forward, throwing everyone back into their seats. Tails pulled back on the flight stick, which caused the plane to rise into the air. Once they were a few hundred feet up and the landing gear was retracted, the young fox pulled back a little more on the flight stick, sending the plane into an almost perfectly vertical assent. He quickly pulled out of it, bringing the plane into level flight.

Darius looked at one of the small readouts that were in each cockpit. They were triple supersonic.

Several hours later

Darius was awoken by a call from Sabina. He sat up.

"You awake?" she asked kindly. Darius grunted, looking out the window. "We're about two minutes from the drop point. You ready?"

"If I was, I'd still be in the garage." Sabina didn't know what to make of this.

The plane started to descend. For Darius, the next few minutes were a blur. The planed landed. Then, he and Sabina got, taking a communicator/tracker and a bag full of supplies. After that, the X-Tornado just disappeared.

Darius shook his head. Sabina was standing next to him, looking him in the eye.

"Are you read now?" she asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," he said, looking off into the distance.

To the ebony and crimson fox, something seemed wrong.


	21. Chapter 21

Judgment chapter 21

Darius looked up to the sky. Deep inside of him, he felt that something was not right, and slowly getting worse. He pushed the feelings aside, and took a look at his surroundings.

Despite how far north they were, the local flora was very heavy and green. He already hated it, though at the same time felt oddly attracted to it. The sky was very hard to see though the thick trees. However, this only meant that it would be dark, something which suited Darius just fine.

"We need to head north a few hundred yards. The cave entrance should be there," said Sabina, looking at the little tracker/communicator that she held in her hand.

"Then let's go," said Darius, hiding what was on his mind. Sabina, still holding the tracker in one hand, continued forwards. They continued in silence. After a few minutes, Darius suddenly stopped, his ears perked up. Sabina listened closely, wondering what he was hearing. However, it was very quiet. No birds were singing, no insects were making any noise, and there were no storm clouds on the horizon.

"What do you hear?" she asked. He shushed her, and continued to listening around, turning his head. His eyes were moving around, looking for something. "I don't hear anything."

"I know," he said, his ears twitching now.

"Then what do you hear?" she asked.

"Nothing." Sabina looked at the ebony and crimson fox, wondering what he was hearing. Then it occurred to her. Nothing meant nothing. Forests weren't silent. But there was no sound coming from this one. Her face widened with surprise and fear. Darius saw this, and shook his head. "If there is something here that is to be feared, it is us. The animals that should live here will try to avoid us. Though this doesn't explain why there are no insects. We aren't that far north, and it IS summer." Sabina nodded. The ebony and crimson fox continued walking, with the snow-white fox close behind.

For the next hour, both foxes continued walking, listening for what should be there. Sabina occasionally called out direction changes to Darius. She was getting worried about him. He seemed unusually tense, ready to attack whatever got in his way. She didn't blame him, as she was getting tense herself.

Secretly, she felt safer when she was close behind him. She tired to say fairly close to him at all times, sure that he could beat whatever came in their path.

Eventually, the cave entrance came into view.

"What the hell happened here?" asked Darius, his voice somewhere in-between surprise, shock, fear, curiosity, and amusement.

There were several skeletons laying around by the cave entrance, most of which had been mutilated. Not thinking, Sabina moved even closer to Darius, and actually pressing herself against him lightly. She was horrified by the site, yet simultaneously intrigued. Darius walked over to one of the skeletons. It was gripping some kind of weapon, which was impaled though it's skull. Darius grabbed the weapon and pulled it out of the skull. The hand that was holding onto the weapon fell apart, and the skull shattered. Sabina gasped at this.

"I think this one might have been an echidna," said Darius, kneeling down beside the skeleton.

"What happened here?" asked Sabina, approaching the bodies.

"I don't know," said Darius, his eyes now focused on the weapon. "I do know that they've been here for over a hundred years, undisturbed." The fox remained silent for a few seconds, his eyes shifting from the weapon to the other skeletons. "I'm not sure…but I think they killed each other."

"There were at least eight of them, probably nine. I can't tell. Some of the bodies have been horribly ruined," said Sabina, sticking close to Darius. She was scarred, and he knew it. The ebony and crimson fox looked at the weapon for a while. Then, he stood up.

"I'm not sure which, but this was either a spear or a lance…or possibly and odd sword," said Darius. The sun was going down, and it was getting dark. The ebony and crimson fox dropped the weapon and started heading into the cave.

"Are we seriously going in there? It's almost night," asked Sabina, visibly freaking out.

"You can stay if you like," he said, pausing. In all reality, he wasn't going to stray to far from the other fox. He knew that it would be a bad idea.

"But, we don't know what's in there. We could get lost," she protested.

"And just how would waiting for day help?"

"I…I don't know," she said, admitting defeat and walking into the cave behind Darius. She turned on several flashlights. She had two attached to her head, one attached to her pants, and one in her hands. She clipped one to Darius' trench coat. He didn't seem to like it, though didn't argue.

After walking in a few feet, the air temperature dropped like a rock almost twenty degrees. It felt like there was a gentle breeze flowing though the cave, though the air was very still and calm. Sabina reached out and grabbed Darius' arm. He looked at her. Upon seeing her face, he smiled, not arguing. She was terrified. It was insanely creepy in there. Every sound they made echoed loudly. Off in the distance, they could hear the sound of water dripping. The very faint sounds a large amount of water running could be heard, way off in the distance.

The lights that she had brought weren't helping as much as she had hoped. The cave seemed to swallow the light, making it useless. After walking for a few minutes, she was still terrified. Suddenly, she felt something pulling on her backpack. She screamed. Darius turned around, ready to kill. Sabina stood still as a statue, shaking violently. Darius walked behind her.

"Your backpack got stuck on a rock formation," he said, unhooking the backpack. She looked at him, to scarred to move. An odd feeling arose in him. Acting on it, he set his left hand on her shoulder. "Look," he said, his voice very calm and relaxing. "If anything tries to ambush us, you'll be fine. I don't think that there is anything living here, except maybe some lesser bats. I don't think that there are many insects here. Just calm down, ok?" Her eyes meant his. There were a few tears apparent in the snow-white fox's eyes, though she brushed them away. He took the tracker/communicator away from her, and looked at it. He realized that he didn't know how to read it. "Where to?"

"Umm…straight that way," she said, pointing in the direction that they were going in. Darius nodded, and waited for her to follow before setting off.

The next half-hour was uneventful. They walked around in the cave, getting deeper and deeper as the time passed. Eventually, they came to a large pit. The sound of a water fall made it hard to hear much. Deep inside the caves, everything echoed.

Sabina walked over the edge and looked down. She couldn't see the bottom of the pit. Her light disappeared. She looked at Darius, unsure of what to do. When she saw him, she ducked her head. The ebony and crimson fox launched a large fireball down into the pit. The fireball did as it was intended. The could see what was down there, though only for a brief couple of seconds. It wasn't much. Darius launched another fireball in the direction of the sound of the water. It flew for a few seconds before hitting a wall and going out. Sabina looked at the other fox, starting to freak out again.

To her surprise, he stepped out onto a small path that led down the outside of the pit. Gathering up all her courage, she followed him. The path was less than a foot wide, and very slippery. She walked down it slowly, hugging the wall for her life. Darius, on the other hand, actually jumped into the air, and rode the down the path sideways, using his feet like roller-skates. There was very little friction on the path. Sabina decide not to follow though.

After fifteen minutes of wall hugging, she reached the bottom. Darius was waiting there for her, his face serious. He turned around, pointing to something. Her eyes followed his gaze. The place where they had just come from was at least fifty feet above them. The air down here was somewhat cooler that the air where they had came from. The sound of the water was getting close to a roar.

The snow-white fox didn't make a sound as her jaw dropped. There where hundreds of skeletons in a large pile, all of them mutilated in some way. She turned her head back to Darius, who was walking towards something. The narrow beams of light that she had to work with were getting annoying. She reached around into her backpack, and got out a wide-beam light. She turned it on.

Up ahead a few feet, Darius was looking down a corridor in the wall. She walked over to him, and looked down as well.

"That's where we have to go," she said, confirming his thoughts. He walked off into the cave. He felt her hand on his shoulder. She wasn't about to get to far away from the other fox.

Soon after they entered, they came to a huge open room. The sound of the waterfall turned into a deafening roar. Sabina looked up, her lights being absorbed by the darkness. She couldn't see. Seemingly reading her mind, Darius threw a fireball.

"Damn," he said, not very loudly. She was just close enough to see his lips move, though didn't know what he was saying. He looked around, trying to figure out what to do.

"The emerald should be just over there," she said, pointing. The two foxes walked off in the direction that Sabina had indicated. They walked until Sabina suddenly stopped, looking at the device in her hand. Darius looked at her.

"Where is the Emerald?" he asked.

"Wha?" she said, a confused look on her face. "According to this, we're…500 feet above it." Darius looked at her confused.

"It must have been washed into whatever river flows though here. Now, It's probably setting at the bottom somewhere." He looked at the waterfall. "This is going to take a while."

The two foxes looked around for a while, finally finding a path out of the massive cavern that they were in. They continued walking for several hours, talking a little. Finally, they came to a dip in the already descending path that they were on. Darius paused when they got to the dip, suspecting something. However, nothing was there to ambush them. He walked into the dip, ready to attack. However, there was nothing there. He motioned for Sabina to follow. She did, looking at the tracker that she was holding.

"Oh no," she said, freezing. Darius looked at her, ready to kill something. "It just occurred to me…we haven't been marking a path out. Darius looked up at her.

"Oh well," he said, not worried. The snow-white fox knew that she shouldn't be worried either, though she was.

"How are we going to get out? What if we run out of food?"

"You'll only make the problem worse by thinking about it," said Darius, coming to another steep drop. He looked down. "Bingo." Sabina walked over, looking down. The white Chaos Emerald was wedged in between a couple of rocks, emitting a gently pulsing light.

The two foxes walked down a path that looked like it had been carved out of the wall. Darius walked though the water that was built up on the floor. It was a few inches deep, though not much. He grabbed the Emerald, smiling.

"I got it, Sab," he said, using an odd shortened version of her name. He continued looking at, feeling some power coming from it. But he also felt some power being drawn from it. "Sabina?" he asked, looking around.

The snow-white fox's face was frozen in fear. Her jaw was slowly falling. Shaking very badly, she raised her arm up, pointing at something above Darius. Her movements were very jerky. Darius turned around, backing up at the same time.

Something hit him, knocking him into a wall. A wave of pain pulsed though his body. He quickly stood up, his light ruined. Not thinking to much about it, he slid the Chaos Emerald into a pocked on his coat. He felt energy building up inside of his body. Without warning, fire erupted from both of his hands. The threw fireballs in the direction that the impact had come from.

"What the FUCK IS THAT!?" he yelled, seeing some kind of creature before him. It's body was rising almost ten feet out of the water. The creature's head was on a long, arched neck, and was moving towards Darius. It had several eyes, all of which were open. It had no pupils. Sabina was already above them, shining some light down on the creature. It's mouth wasn't visible. Several huge tentacles-like arms were rising up out of the water. It's head came closer to Darius, allowing him to see the snout-like nose it had. Its head was feet from his, and slowly getting closer. "Well this is a shitty place to die."

Darius jumped back, causing the creature to strike at him. Its head hit the wall where he had been just a few seconds before with enough force seriously hurt the fox. Darius ran up the path.

Sabina was standing up at the top, looking down, helpless. Darius ran past her, grabbing her and pulling her along. She ran with him. "What is that thing?" she yelled, running.

"Do you SERIOUSLY think I know?" yelled the ebony and crimson fox back, stopping. He fired off several fireballs, which seemed to cause the creature pain. It stopped coming up, seemingly stuck. Darius concentrated, then let loose a huge wave of fire. He wanted to kill that thing. However, he knew better than to fight a fight that he could not win.

Several hours later

Sabina emerged from the cave, exhausted. Darius emerged soon after. They look at each other, then around.

"This is not where we went in," said the snow-white fox.

"Who cares? We're out. Tails can lock into our signal when he comes back to get us. How long where we in there?" Sabina looked at a watch she had. Her face widened with surprise.

"Almost nine hours. It didn't feel that long at all. I wonder why," she said, looking at the stars.

"Come on," said Darius. "We need to find a place to sleep and cook some food. I'm getting hungry."

"Me too," said Sabina.

The two foxes walked away from the cave entrance, not having any particular place in mind. After an hour, they came to a large body of water. It wasn't the sea, but it was pretty big. Much to Sabina's surprise, Darius started taking off his clothes. He stopped when all he had on was a pair of shorts he had on under his pants. He looked at her, smiling. His face was so much different that it normally was.

"Care for a swim" he asked. By chance, she had brought something to swim in. She nodded her head, then walked off into the bushes to change.

Darius waded out into the cool water. It felt incredibly refreshing after having been in that cave for so long. He stretched, then laid down in the water. Sabina soon joined him, looking more stunning than ever in her white bikini, though Darius wasn't sure how. She too laid down in the water, letting out a sigh. It felt good to relax.

The moon was casting an eerie glow out on the water. Darius enjoyed it, though his hunger was getting the better of him. He got out of the water, walking over to the backpack to see what kind of food she had brought with her. She got out of the water a few seconds later. Darius stared at her, mesmerized by her beauty. The moonlight made her fur look spectacular, and somehow brought out her already impressive figure even more. Darius was amazed with the way she carried herself. She was the most graceful creature that he had ever seen, of that he was sure. Her two tails, which were already starting to get bushy from drying out, were hovering a few inches above the ground, the tips pointed away from her. The angles of the tips was perfectly opposite each other.

Time stopped. Before he knew what had happened, she was less than a couple of feet away from him. She was also frozen. Their eyes locked. Both of the foxes were fighting off the urge to embrace each other.

Sabina stared into the ebony and crimson fox's eyes, mesmerized. When he suddenly lunged forward, she hadn't been expecting it. He slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. He quickly got up, running off towards the water. She rolled over, confused.

Her eyes locked onto the large creature rising up out of the water. It was the thing that had been down inside the cave.

Darius felt the energy build up inside of him. The familiar tingle of the red aura that now surrounded his body was relaxing, even in the face of combat. He ran out onto the water, not realizing that he was walking on it. The creature's head turned his direction, then went flying. Darius jumped, spinning his body as though there were a pole running though his chest. He landed, all of his speed still up. After a quick 180, he concentrated. The water under him started to collect a huge amount of energy.

The ebony and crimson fox jumped into the air, propelled by the power of the red aura. Under the water, the energy contracted, resulting in a huge explosion. As he reached the apex of his fall, Darius focused all the energy in his body at the creature. The energy started to collect as he hovered.

Sabina watched from the beach, if it could be called that. A blinding white light erupted from Darius, which was focused at the creature. All of the water around the point of impact was flash-boiled. Darius hovered for a few more seconds, the started to fall, though not very fast. Below him, the water filled the hole that had been created by the energy burst. It was very loud, sounding almost like the explosion that had occurred under the water.

Somewhat close to the beach, Darius slipped below the water. He came back up, and started swimming towards the beach. Once there, Sabina helped him out of the water. He was tired, and allowed the help.

She gave him something to eat, though he wasn't sure what. Either way, it tasted good. After eating, he looked back out to the water to make sure that the creature hadn't come back. To his relief, it didn't. He felt her draping something over him. He realized that it was his trench coat. He felt his eyes close.

When Darius awoke, Sabina was cooking something. He sat up, confused. He couldn't remember the past night.

"Good morning," she said. He looked at her, her eyes focusing on her. She was still wearing her bikini.

"Umm….hi," he said, sitting up. He quickly came to his senses. "Have you called Tails or Shadow yet?"

"I tired Shadow and Tails both, but didn't get anything," replied Sabina, some worry in her voice.

"What about Vanilla?" asked Darius, now standing. He was trying to remember the night before. Sabina nodded her head. Darius picked up the transmitter, and pressed the call button. After a few minuets, he got a response.

"Hello!?" came the voice from the other end.

"Cream? What's wrong?" asked Darius, easily picking out the distress in the young rabbits voice.

"Some one attacked. Mother's hurt. I'm -static- but -static- and -static- hurt. Please help me!"

"We'll be there as soon as we can," said Darius looking up to Sabina. The communicator died. "We need to go. Now."

"Ok," said Sabina, throwing her things into the backpack.

Darius looked up at the sky. It looked like it was about to start storming.


	22. Chapter 22

Judgment chapter 22

Sabina grabbed Darius' arm just in time. Another massive pulse of energy left the fox's body, sending ripples across the surface of the water. This time, the energy was enough. The two foxes were teleported several hundred miles away to Tails' house.

As soon as they were solid again, the two foxes got ready to fight, though Sabina had no idea why. Darius took in the surroundings, shocked.

Tails' house was burning, and was already beyond saving. There was thick, black smoke rising from several places. The rain wasn't helping any. The clouds were black, and it was somewhat dark. Darius was alert to everything that was happening around him. Or so he thought.

He ran into the house, leaving Sabina alone.

"HELP!! HELP ME!!" called someone from inside the house.

"Hold on!" yelled Darius, sure it was Cream what was calling for him. He ran into the living room, where the voice had come from. The fire was starting to piss him off. He rounded a corner, running into the living room. To the foxes amazement, the living room wasn't on fire at all. It wasn't even damaged.

"Well well, look who showed his head." Darius turned his head. The voice was Creams. On the couch was a fiery red hedgehog. "After our last meeting, I thought that he boss would kill me. But no, he was egger to give me another chance. He doesn't expect for me to live. But now, we're fighting on my terms." As the hedgehog spoke, his voice switched from Creams to Tails, then to his own.

"So Nazo is alive," said Darius, reaming calm. He was hoping that Sabina hadn't followed him in.

"Oh, yes, Nazo is very much alive," said the hedgehog, waving his arm. Behind him, Darius herd the fire spread, closing off the exit.

"Vann, isn't it?"

"I'm honored that you member me," said the hedgehog, extremely sarcastically. "I would just love to see you die, but I wasn't asked to kill you. You can come with me peacefully, and bring your little girlfriend, or I can kick your asses."

"That won't be necessary," said a different voice. A blood red echidna wearing white clothing walked though the door behind Vann. The fire moved aside for him, though quickly closed up the gap. "You take care of the girl. No fire, though. If her fur is scored at all, I'll kill you myself." "Fine," said Vann, walking though the doorway behind him, leaving Darius alone with the echidna.

The two looked at each other, both calm and relaxed. The echidna started pacing the room.

"So, you're the great Darius I've herd so much about. I wouldn't have believed that you were a fox unless Bergen had told me so. But now, I know it for myself. You've faired well over the years." Darius stared at the echidna blankly. His mind was focused on Sabina. He was hoping that she was alright. The echidna noticed this. "What? Are you worried about the other fox? Don't worry, she won't get hurt to badly. Vann is an idiot. I'm not sure why we recruited him in the first place. Do you remember?"

"I don't have any idea what you talking about," said Darius, following the echidna with his eyes.

"Bergen said that you wouldn't. I'm surprised. I'd tell you my name, but I'm not supposed to just yet. He wants to remind you himself."

"Can we skip the talk and get to the fighting?" asked Darius, getting annoyed.

"You never were one for the mono logging. I suppose that I owe it to you. Shall we dance?"

"It depends," said Darius, dropping into a fighting pose, his voice challenging and mocking at the same time. "Tango or ballroom?" The echidna laughed, dropping into a fighting stance.

"However you prefer." The echidna lunged. With some effort, he sidestepped, grabbing the echidna and throwing the echidna though a wall. It collapsed, leaving the echidna lying in the yard.

Sabina and Vann turned their heads when the echidna came though the wall. Darius came though the wall, the fire burning brightly behind him. He looked pissed, and extremely evil.

"Fuck," whispered the echidna to himself. He stood up, taking off his white coat. "It IS him." Darius lunged, much faster than the echidna though was possible for the fox. The ebony and crimson fox let a series of punches and kicks fly. The echidna almost managed to block all of them, but the last couple made it though, knocking the echidna over again. The fox threw his trench coat onto the ground.

Without much warning, Darius did a back flip, kicking Vann in the jaw. The fiery hedgehog flew a few feet into the air, only to be hit by a hard punch in the chest from the ebony and crimson fox. Sabina was backing away, trying to stay out of this. She wanted to help, though she knew that she was outmatched. The blood red echidna lunged at Darius. The fox noticed this, slamming the metal side of his gloves into the echidna's face. The echidna braced for the blow, though it didn't help much. He stumbled back, waiting for his vision to clear. Lucky for him, Vann provided a distraction.

Darius laughed on the inside, smiling visibly. These two were pathetic. The hedgehog threw a punch, with Darius caught with is left hand. He smiled, then twisted his arm, almost causing it to snap. He jerked the hedgehog towards him, causing the Vann to scream in pain. When Darius' right hand was by the hedgehog's waist, he grabbed him, lifting him up into the air. While he was in the air, Darius let go of his arm, quickly placing his had just below the hedgehog's neck. The hedgehog came down on the fox's outstretched knee.

The echidna twitched as the sound of the snapping backbones of the hedgehog reached his ears. The fox threw the hedgehog behind him. Vann was screaming, in extreme pain. Darius ignored this. The fox was in kill mode.

"Fuck," said the hedgehog, wiping some blood away from his mouth. For the first time in a long time, he was sure that he was outmatched. Darius got closer, not even dropping into a fighting stance. "After all this time, I thought you would have lost your touch. But your just as dangerous as you were the last time we talked." The fox didn't say anything.

"DARIUS!! LOOK OUT!!" screamed Sabina. Darius paused, looking at her. He didn't feel the impact of the broadside of the large sword as it slammed into the back of his skull, knocking him out cold. The snow-white fox looked on in horror. Without thinking, she lunged at the wielder of the sword, a large cat with light yellow fur that had several black patches here and there. However, most of his body was hidden by a nice suit. The big cat turned his head just in time to see her coming. However, he was too slow, and a solid punch in the face, though it didn't hurt him much. He stepped back out of surprise, not pain.

The snow-white fox dropped down beside the ebony and crimson fox, looking at him carefully. When the cat started to walk over to them, she turned to him, anger in her eyes. She stood up, intending to do everything she could to guard the other fox. However, when she tried to punch him, he grabbed her by the throat, hoisting her into the air, and started to strangle her with his left hand. She struggled, hitting the big cat several times, each blow getting weaker. She finally stopped struggling, passing out from the lack of air. He let go, causing her body to fall to the ground. The cat looked at her for a second, making sure she was still alive. When he saw her breathing again, his turned his head to the echidna.

"What?" asked the echidna, walking over to the cat.

"So much for it being an easy fight," said the big cat. "He's more deadly that he was back when we still worked together."

"I know that now," said the echidna, walking over to the fiery hedgehog, who was laying on the ground. "Fuck."

"Is he dead?"

"Yep. What an idiot." The big cat paused for a second.

"I never noticed it before, but you have an accent in your voice," said the cat. The echidna did have a Russian accent.

"Your point?" asked the echidna, standing up. "What did you do with that blue hedgehog? The one that glows."

"Zach is taking care of him now. Come on, we need to get these two with the others. Grab his Chaos Emerald." The echidna did as he was told. A few minutes later, they teleported out of the area.

An Unknown Time Later

Amy pressed her head into Shadow's chest, cold. In front of them, Sonic was pacing. The blue hedgehog looked like he was very unhappy. A few feet from him, Knuckles and Rouge were sitting down, talking with Vanilla. Tails and Cream were asleep, laying on each other. Amy shivered, moving closer still to Shadow, who was hurt fairly badly.

The pink hedgehog didn't know exactly where she was. She was surrounded by an ancient looking stone walls. It reminded her of a dungeon, which it could have been. The air was very cold and still. There were several vertical bars on the side of the room that was connecting to the hallway. It was a cell, she guessed. There was a heavy looking steel door on one part of the wall, which let out into the hallway. She looked up at Shadow, who was asleep, breathing lightly.

The door opened. Everyone that was awake turned their heads and looked at it. Two armored guards walked in, carrying a snow-white fox between them. They threw the fox on the cold, rough, stone floor and walked back out, locking the door behind them. Amy, Vanilla, and Sonic all got up immediately. Knuckles and Rouge were too stunned to move.

Fear and anger spread across Amy's face when she realized who it was.

"Sabina?" she asked, gently putting the snow-white fox into a sitting position. The fox was awake, though incomprehensible. She looked up at Amy. Something seemed to snap. The fox's crimson eye's filled with tears. She fell forward, hugging the pink hedgehog, crying gently. Amy hugged her back.

"Where is Darius," asked Vanilla, on her knees.

"I don't know," said the fox, shaking gently. Vanilla put her hand on Sabina's shoulder, attempting to comfort the fox. "We teleported back to Tails' house after we got a call from who we though was Cream. We got there, and Darius walked into the house. A few minutes later, a fiery red hedgehog came out and started trying to tie me up. I fought back, but he was strong. Then, a blood red echidna came though the wall of the house, followed by Darius. I guess the fire weakened the structure of the house."

"His house burned down?" asked Vanilla, her voice shaking. Sabina nodded her head yes.

"When we got there, it was bad enough that….it was beyond saving. Anyway, I think that Darius broke the hedgehog's back. I think he killed him." Sabina was crying harder now, shaking. Amy squeezed harder, trying to keep her calm. "Then, a big yellow cat came out of nowhere and hit Darius in the back of the head with a sword. I punched the cat in the face, and crouched down beside Darius. Then, I tried to attack the cat. He choked me until I passed out. I just woke up." She started crying much harder now. "I don't know what happened to Darius." Amy didn't know what to say.

Tails and Cream opened their eyes at almost the same time. They walked over to Sabina, both offering a comforting touch. Sonic shook his head.

"This is crap," he said, surprising everyone. "Who are these people? They were able to beat Shadow and Darius both."

"No they didn't," said Amy, getting annoyed at Sonic's tone. "They jumped me and Shadow. We didn't have a chance. That red echidna was too quick for us. If we had had a chance, I think we could have one. What's your excuse?" she said, challenging him. Sonic started to say something, but Tails spoke first.

"Actually, the same thing happened to us," said the young fox, sadness in his voice. Amy was obviously surprised by this. Sabina let go of Amy, rocking back on her feet. She looked at Tails. "I didn't even have time to get out of the X-Tornado. Sonic got out and was knocked out almost as soon as his feet hit the ground. I never saw who it was that attacked us. Did you, Sonic?"

"Nope," said Sonic, his voice calm. Amy relaxed as well.

"What happened to you and Cream?" asked Sabina, turning to Vanilla.

"That red hedgehog, Vann came into the house and told us to come with him."

"Cheese tried to protect us," said Cream, her large, brown eyes filling with tears. "I…I think he killed him," she said, bursting out crying. She buried her face in Tails' chest, who was right beside her. The young fox looked up, surprised by the rabbit's actions. However, he hugged her back. Sabina laid a had on Cream's shoulder. She snow-white fox stood up, shaking. All the sadness and pain in her body was replaced with anger. She managed to keep it under control. The energy coming from her body was enough to wake up Shadow, who looked up, confused. Amy ran to his side.

Sabina turned her head to the bars.

"It's no use. I've tried," said Knuckles, standing up. Rouge did the same, holding one of the red echidna's hands with both of hers.

"How did you two get here?" asked Amy, looking over to the echidna and the bat.

"We were ambushed at the Master Emerald, I think. I don't really know. It all happened so fast," said Rouge. Knuckles nodded his head. Everyone turned their head at the sound of a loud crack.

Sabina backed up. Her hand was throbbing. She looked down at it. It wasn't broken, but it hurt like hell.

"Did…did you just…" said Knuckles, looking at the bars. There was a large crack running across them. She had just punched the bars, not knowing it until her hand started hurting.

"Holy shit," said Shadow, who was now standing up.

Darius opened his eyes slowly. His vision was badly blurred, and the back of his head was throbbing painfully. After a few minutes, he started to become aware of what was going on around him. He thought he was moving, though wasn't sure. Everything seemed so distant that he didn't really care. However, he was soon sure that he was indeed moving. When he started to recognize the feeling coming from his arms, he didn't know what to make of it. He realized that his head was hanging down. He didn't care, though. It hurt a little.

He felt himself being pushed down into something. He guessed was a chair. His head was still hurting, but he pail felt like it was being drained away from him by something. It was literally a sucking feeling.

When his vision started to clear, he could see he was in a large room, probably twenty feet high. He couldn't tell how wide it was or how long. The ebony and crimson fox felt his hands pulled behind him. However, as soon a sound reached his ears, his hands were released.

The rest of his scenes hit him like the bullet out of a gun. It was enough to 'blind' him, overloading his mind for a few seconds. Things started to clear out.

"Hello? Hello? Are you awake yet?" asked Bergen, facing the fox. The big cat turned his head to a chair that had it's back turned. "I think that me may be starting to wake up."

"He's certainly taking his sweet time," came the reply. The chair turned around, revealing a green hedgehog with red streaks in his quills. The hedgehog stood up, brushing a few quills out of his face. He had a few rings on his fingers. "I think he might actually become comprehensible within a few minutes."

"Indeed," said the big cat, backing up. Memories of the time he had spent with that particular fox came back to his mind. He knew that that the fox was extremely jumpy when waking up after being knocked out. Deep inside, the cat was hoping that the fox didn't kill everyone in the room. He was defiantly capable of it.

"Does your head hurt?" asked the hedgehog, offering the fox a drink. Darius looked up at the hedgehog, still waiting for things to come into focus. His head hurt quite badly. The fox noticed the drink. He took it from the hedgehog's hand, sniffing it. His mind wasn't working right yet. However, it smelled like it was some kind of alcohol, probably brandy or whisky, or perhaps bourbon or scotch, none of which he fox was fond of. However, he downed it, hoping it might clear his head some.

Though it wasn't the desired affect, his mind was cleared, along with his stomach. Darius threw up everything that he had eaten in the past few hours, which wasn't much. However, the hedgehog had been expecting this, and had a trashcan ready.

Darius' eyes locked with the eyes of the hedgehog. Something sparked within the fox's memory.

"Is your name Vayne?" asked Darius, setting back in the chair, willing his stomach to rest. The hedgehog smiled, sitting down on the large table that was between Darius and the chair that the hedgehog had been sitting in.

"It seems that you do remember some things, though most of it is lost to you," said the hedgehog still smiling. He took a drink of whatever it was that Darius had thrown up. Darius noticed that the hedgehog was clothed with a simple set of robes complete with a cape. They were royal purple, a color which actually looked rather nice on the green hedgehog. Gold trim outlined the edge of the cape, as well as some of the robes.

"Would you mind telling what the hell is going on?" asked Darius, the gears in his head turning insanely fast. It felt like there were two trains heading for each other. He had a feeling that when they collided, he would remember something major.

"Of course," said hedgehog, smiling. Behind him, the big cat was talking with a servant. "To answer your question, my name is Vayne. I take it that I'm not someone you ever expected to see again." The look in the fox's eyes told the hedgehog that he was right. "However, I highly doubt that your reasons are the same as mine. None the less, it is a surprise.

"To answer another question that you're not asking, your in the ancient kingdom of Nabdrodeisiea. Several hundred years ago, I forget the exact number, the royal family here brought forth a new son, who latter became king. That son started a war with the world, and was actually assassinated in his sleep by a member of his personal guard. Though some effort, I've found out who was in the guard and who actually killed the king.

"The guard consisted of twelve Judge Magisters, the elite warriors of the king's army. They were his generals, in a sense. Anyway, they decided that the war that their king was raging was pointless, and assassinated him in his sleep.

"Over the years that followed, the Judges died, with the exception of three. The blood lines of all but four were lost. One of the Judges, who called herself Drace, gave birth to a set of twins, whom she and her husband raised peacefully, guarded by two of the three other Judges. The Judges that kept an eye on Drace and her family were Judge Gabranth and Judge Bergan. The third Judge…well…no one knew what had happened to him until recently. The third Judge, Judge Zodiark, remained alive over the years, though how is not known at this time. He is alive today." Inside Darius' mind, several things were starting to make more and more sense. He could feel that those trains were getting closer. "Zodiark aside, the other three Judges continued to live peacefully. Drace died at the age of eighty-two. After she died, Gabranth and Bergan continued to keep an eye on her children. However, they noticed something strange.

"Despite the fact that it had been over sixty years since they had parted from the other Judges, they had aged physically one day. They looked exactly as they had the day they parted from Zodiark.

"The reason that Zodiark was so unique was that he was basically a father to the other Judges. They all looked up to him, and all considered him a friend, though the closest were Drace, Bergan, Gabranth, and Zargabaath, though finding information about her is almost as hard as finding it on Zodiark. She was easily the second most mysterious Judge, joining the ranks of the Judges near the end. She was the only one to keep her face hidden from the king, a fact that the king tried to hide. It's rumored that he only person to ever see her face once she got her amour was Zodiark himself.

"Zodiark was the one that preformed the actual execution of the king, decapitating him. This fact was unknown for several hundred years. The Judges disappeared, an act carefully orchestrated by Zodiark. They managed to avoid the mass murders that followed, though that is another story." The hedgehog took another drink. "But to the main point."

"I've been looking for you. I don't suppose you know your name, do you?"

"It's Darius," said Darius. The trains were now close enough to allow energy to pass between the two. Darius was starting to wonder….

"Perhaps it is now. However, that's not the name that you always went by." Bergen walked up to the hedgehog, and whispered something into his ear. The hedgehog looked surprised. "Don't allow them to leave the building. Keep them here." The big cat started to walk towards a door. "And Bergen," said Vayne. The cat turned his head. "I want them alive." The cat nodded, continuing towards the door. The hedgehog turned back to Darius, then got up and started pacing. "I don't suppose your starting to realize what I'm getting at."

"No idea," said Darius, still shooting in the dark. A couple of things were starting to overlap in his mind. He remembered the dream he had had when he was flying in the X-Tornado with Tails. There had been a hedgehog named Vayne that looked exactly like the one in front of him. As soon as this occurred to him, his mind started racing. In his dream, there had been a large, yellow cat that looked exactly like Bergen. Then, Darius realized the cat's name had been Bergan. Now his mind was in overdrive. Gabranth…that was the blood red echidna in the dream…and the one he had fought earlier. The final realization hit him like a brick.

He was Zodiark.

Darius fell out of his chair, his memories flooding back into his mind. Now everything was starting to make sense. He was the most powerful fox to ever live. He was over 1,000 years old. He was the one that had killed Vayne.

"Is it coming back to you?" asked Vayne, who's voice was becoming hostile. "Do you remember? Do you remember what you did to me!?" Darius stood up, backing away from Vayne. "Because of you, I've been trapped inside that stupid Master Emerald all this time! Because of you, I've been helpless for over 1,000 years!" The hedgehog was yelling now. "Hell, if it wasn't for Bergen, or should I say, Bergan, I'd still trapped inside that fucking rock! But no! He found me. Him and Gabranth found me, and set me free. They knew that they had done the wrong thing. Killing me was the worst mistake you ever made. And now, I'm stuck in this new world. I've got no power, no status, no fear to use against the people! It's all because of you!"

Darius stopped. He felt something deep inside his stirring. Vayne noticed this to, and stopped his ranting. The fox felt his body lock up, preventing him from moving. He screamed, the pain suddenly hitting him. It felt like someone was taking a large, hot knife and cutting him open from the inside. It was excruciating. His entire body was shaking. Every muscle in his body was having a spasm.

He screamed again. It felt like something was leaving his body from the inside, pushing its way though his chest. He could feel his bones moving, all his muscles stretching. The fox's face was twisted in pain. Vayne was now behind his desk, not sure of what to think. He had never seen anything like this before.

The pain suddenly got much worse. Whatever was in him was coming out not. He tried to open his eyes, but the pain was too much. He screamed again. A dark aura started seeping out of his chest. It felt like something was making a hole in his chest, a hole far to small for it to escape through.

"FUCK!!" yelled Darius, reaching his pain threshold. It became to much for him. He passed out standing up, tears flowing from his eyes. But the aura kept coming out. Suddenly, it just burst out. The entire dark aura flew halfway across the room before disappearing into the stone walls.

Vayne took off running. He was scared to death. He had no idea what had just happened. The only thing on his mind was to get to Bergan and Gabranth. They were his guards.

With another powerful blow, Sabina blew the stone bars holding them prisoner out of place. She stepped into the hall, followed by everyone else. Something told her to go left. She acted on it, taking off running, completely forgetting about the others. She quickly left them behind, the only think on her mind taking priority.

Darius.

She had to get to him.

The snow-white fox ran as fast as she could. She blew past the blood red echidna, who immediately took off running after her. However, she was moving much faster than he could. She had no idea where she was, and didn't care. She knew where Darius was. That was the only thing in the world that mattered to her.

Vayne was running through the halls towards the prison cells when the snow-white fox passed her. He turned his head, wondering what was happening. The hedgehog managed to stop Gabranth.

"Leave her be. Get Bergan. Something just left that fox's body. I don't know what it was, but I think we need to get the hell out of here now!" The hedgehog's voice was full of fear and excitement. Never a good combination. He was panicking.

"Come on then. Bergan and Zach are bringing Nazo over right now. We can find and stop whatever came out of the fox's body. There is no way that it can win against us. I…" Gabranth stopped. Something was going though his body. He looked down. A long, sharp sword was poking out through his body. He could see the blood running down the blade.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," came a voice from behind him. Whoever was holding the sword twisted it. Gabranth screamed, the last of his life leaving his body.

Vayne watched, pressed against the wall. His heart was in his throat. Gabranth's body fell to the floor, making a thud as it hit. Vayne saw the killer. His breathing rate increased. The hedgehog's eyes were wide, and his jaw was dropped. He was shaking his back and forth in disbelief.

An fox with jet black fur, with red streaks running though is fur, and on the tips of both tails, was holding a large sword. The fox looked up, his crimson eyes meeting Vayne's.

"No…no no no…your not Darius…you not Zodiark…n…no," he stuttered, tears flowing though is eyes. He fell to his knees, going into hysterics. He didn't want to die. Not here, not again.

"Correct," said the fox, before swinging his sword, slicing though Vayne's throat. Blood started spewing everywhere. The fox disappeared into the darkness.

Sabina ran around a corner, coming to a huge set of double doors. She kicked them open, bursting through. It took her a few seconds to spot Darius. The ebony and crimson fox was lying on the floor, not moving. Assuming the worst, she ran over to him. She slid on her knees the last few feet. Now that she was beside him, she was more worried than ever that he was dead. Thinking, the snow-white fox flipped him over and laid her head on his chest. To her relief, he was still alive. To her surprise, he started to wake up.

The ebony and crimson fox slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he way were the deep, crimson eyes of Sabina. He felt all of the panic, all of the concern, all of the everything wash away. She was so beautiful…

"Come on," she said, pulling him up. "We need to get out of here right now." When she pulled him up, he almost instantly fell into her. This was a surprise to her. She could feel him gripper her shoulders. However, he sank back to the ground, wrapping an arm around her leg.

"I can't," he said, the weakness apparent in his voice. He fell forward onto the floor, his grip on her leg loosening. Sabina kneeled next to him, more concerned than ever. "I just can't." Even though she was right beside him, his voice was almost impossible to hear. His eyes slipped shut.

"Shit," she muttered to herself. The snow-white fox turned her head as the rest of her friends walked thought the door. Shadow was trying to walk on his own, though Amy was keeping a firm grip on him. Everyone else was mobile. They looked at Darius. "He can't move. I tried to help him stand, but he passed out again. I don't know what happened to him."

"We need to get out of here right now," said Shadow. "I sense something extremely evil here."

"Ya don't say," said an odd sounding voice. Everyone turned to the doorway. A large figure in battle armor walked though the doorway. It took of its helmet, revealing that it was the big cat. "I don't know what the hell happened, but there is something in here that even I can't take alone. It's already killed Gabranth, Vayne, Zach, and Nazo. I have no idea what it is."

"What?" asked Shadow, fear spreading across the ebony and crimson hedgehog's face.

Without warning, Darius stood up, stumbling as if he were dizzy. Sabina stood with him, but was completely ignored by the fox. Darius stumbled over to Bergan. The two looked each other in the eyes.

"What the fuck is going on?" asked Darius.

"No idea. Do…do you remember?"

"I remember enough." Everyone was now highly confused.

"It's good to have you back. Zodiark suits you much better than Darius."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Sabina, walking over to the two, who were still staring each other in the eye. Suddenly, both Darius and Bergan looked out the door. Almost simultaneously, the two slung magic thought he doorway, then rolled away in opposite directions.

"Get Vanilla and the others the hell out of here!," yelled Darius, standing up. The big cat was mirroring his moves almost perfectly. It was as if the two had trained together. They both ran out into the hallway. "Bergan, you stick with the rest of them. I'm going to go see what the hell this thing is." Darius bolted off down the hallway. Bergan turned his head towards the others. He waved. No one was about to ask questions now. They followed after the big cat.

"What's going on?" asked Sabina, as they all ran down the hallways, which the cat seemed to know very well.

"What about?" was the response, as the big cat slammed his fist into a control panel. A door opened in front of them. They followed the big cat down it.

"You and Darius seem to know each other."

"Zodiark, or Darius, as you call him, is an OLD friend of mine. I'll explain later. For now, lets just get the hell out of here. They group continued running. They passed under a sign that had two words carved onto it: Ridora's Cataract.

The room looked like it was the underside of a coliseum. It was long and curving. There were several rectangle holes cut into the roof, leaving small rectangles of light on the floor. The rectangles were spaced a few feet apart, and wrapped around, like the room appeared to.

Bergan stopped, holding his sword out to one side. Sabina looked ahead. An ebony and crimson fox with two tails was standing before them, holding a bigger sword than the one that the cat had. Sabina looked at him.

"Darius," said Cream waving.

"Cream, that's not him," said Amy, also recognizing the difference. The fox in front of them looked just a little different. His bangs set differently.

"Just what makes you think your getting past here?" asked the fox, advancing, into the light.

It seemed like everything was in super-slow motion when Darius shot past. He was bent low, like a skater. There were two balls of energy in his hands. The second one of his tails brushed passed her face, time when back to normal. Within the blink of an eye, Darius and the other fox went though the roof, leaving everyone else a straight shot out.

Darius traded blows with the new fox, who looked just like him. Once they both landed on the ground, Darius spoke.

"Just who the hell are you?" asked the incredibly tired fox.

"Me?" responded the other fox. "My name is Nightmare. You made me. You should know. Your hatred is what fuels me." Darius and Nightmare lunged at almost the same time.

Sabina turned her head as Darius fell to his knees, a large sword in his body. The ebony and crimson fox fell to his side, his eyes glazing over.

"NO!!"


	23. Chapter 23

Judgment chapter 23

A few seconds earlier

Darius came to a stop, exhausted. His body was in protest.

"Just who the hell are you?" asked Darius, trying to catch his breath.

"Me?" he asked. "My name is Nightmare. You made me. You should know. Your hatred is what fuels me," said the fox, lunging as finished. Darius lunged at the same time.

Time switched over into fight mode. Everything slowed down, but stayed at full speed. Nightmare spun his sword, flipping it towards Darius. The blade was aligned with his chest. Too late to stop now.

As the tip of the sword pierced his chest, he used all the energy left in his body to cast a final spell. A huge ball of energy slammed into Nightmare just as the hilt of the sword hit Darius' ribcage, stopping further progress.

Nightmare was slung several yards away from the blast. But Darius didn't know this, or anything else. He could feel blood trickling out of his mouth and pouring out of his body. He fell to his knees, his arms hanging limp at his sides.

Someone screamed something. He had no idea who or what. His eyesight failed him, followed by his hearing. The fox fell forward onto his face. It was over for him. He felt death's cold, steel grip close around him.

Sabina broke from the rest of the pack, running as fast as she could. It took her only a few seconds to reach Darius' body. She got down on her knees, cradling his head in her arms, looking for some life.

"No," she cried, her entire body shaking. "You can't be dead."

"I'm afraid he is." As the voice reached her ears, she looked up. Her eyes met that of the fox that looked just like the one in her arms.

Something hit her extremely hard in the jaw, sending her into the air. Sabina was stunned, her vision blurry. The snow-white fox hit the ground, bouncing once.

Her mind was void of all thoughts, save one. She was in disbelief, denial. She refused to accept the fact that Darius was dead. Everything in her body told he was, but she refused to believe it.

Bergan watched, every muscle in his body twitching. The fox that killed Darius walked over to the dead fox's body and pulled his sword out. With a sling of his arm, Darius' killer flung Darius' body over onto Sabina.

"Who are you?" asked the big cat, shifting his weight forward into the huge sword his was holding. The fox looked at him, seemingly unconcerned.

"Your worst nightmare."

"WHO ARE YOU!?" roared Bergan, power flowing though his body.

"I told you. I'm Nightmare." Bergan shot forward, his sword held out in front of him. Nightmare was ready for this, and blocked. He didn't anticipate the big cat's speed, and was almost decapitated by a blow from Bergan's sword. Nightmare retaliated with an extremely fast series of blows, none of which were able to make contact. Bergan did a back flip, kicking Nightmare hard in the jaw. The sickening crack of a bone breaking was very obvious.

Bergan landed, his sword out in front of him. Nightmare's head was not on at the right angle. It was twisted to far to the left. His jaw looked broken. The fox didn't seem to care much. He flicked is head back into place. The sound of bone grinding against itself was not pleasant. A quick hand motion fixed the fox's jaw.

"For that, I'm going to kill you slowly."

"Bring it on, asshole." The big cat launched himself once again at the fox. However, he wasn't alone this time. Sonic, Shadow, Amy, Rouge, and Knuckles all went with the big cat. Nightmare had a field day.

After only a few minutes of the fighting, Shadow was laying on the ground, bleeding from a large cut on his chest. Amy was beside him, trying to heal him. Rouge was hovering a good distance away, knowing that there was nothing more she could do. The swords were too fast for her. Knuckles had stayed in, punching whatever he could. Sonic was actually faster than Nightmare, much to the fox's annoyance. Bergan became the secondary focus.

Sabina opened her eyes. The sounds of swords colliding was reaching her ears, though her brain wasn't recognizing them. Her only focus was Darius. She knew that his body was laying on her, still losing some blood. Another wave of pain flooded her body. He was dead. There was no pulse, no breathing, nothing. She sat up, cradling his body in her arms. Her face was pressed into chest, just below his neck. The gaping sword wound in his chest was just inches away from her nose.

The snow-white fox looked up to the fight, then back down at the body in her arms. Something was starting to flood though her body. Her emotions were starting to intensify. With two fingers, she delicately closed Darius' eyes.

All the feelings she had for him were now pain. It was the only thing on her mind. Not even Nightmare mattered to her as she stood up, laying his body down gently.

Something sparked inside of her. It felt like her insides were on fire, yet it didn't hurt. The feeling spread though her body, slowly creeping into her fingers and the tips of her tails. The grass around her was starting to wave, as if blown by some unnatural wind, away from her. Sparks started to play around her fingertips.

Inside of her, the emotions were all turning to anger. Everything that had happened to her that had ever angered her was starting to surface. The crap she had put up with, the unfairness that she had endured. It was all coming out.

An unfamiliar tingling sensation surrounded her body. But she couldn't feel it. She was focused inward, remembering everything. Her face was set in anger.

A blue aura exploded around her body, throwing off a giant dome-shaped wall of energy in all directions.

The fighting stopped, everyone backing away, their heads turned to the center of the explosion. There was so much energy flowing that it was impossible for them to see anything. Darius took advantage of this, lunging forward. The fox drove his blade deep into Bergan's chest. It didn't kill the big cat instantly, though it would soon. This was enough of a warning to everyone else to fight back.

From up in the air, Rouge could see that the blue energy was circling around a central point. Another wave of energy exploded from the center of the vortex, this time flinging the bat quite high into the air. On the ground, everyone was flung into walls, several of which were collapsing.

Nightmare easily pulled himself out of the wall. The energy was now clearing.

"What do we have here?" he asked, amused. When the energy finally cleared all the way, everyone could see what was going on.

Sabina looked up, her eyes the same blue as the energy surrounding her body. The snow-white fox seemed to be hovering above the ground, lifted by the blue energy that surrounded her body. Her tails were hanging down as gracefully as ever. Despite the way everything was blowing away from her, her clothes and her hair were perfectly calm.

Nightmare looked her in the eyes, feeling no fear. He started to run towards her, holding his sword behind him with one arm. With a quick flick of his arm, the drove the sword towards Sabina. From nowhere, the snow-white fox produced a blade of her own. It looked like a katana, though had a bigger blade. She easily blocked Nightmare's blow. Surprised by this, Nightmare froze for a second, allowing himself to receive a powerful kick in the jaw from the snow-white fox.

Sabina rose a few feet into the air from the force of the kick. Instead of falling back to the ground, she hovered, holding the katana towards the ground. Her face was set in anger, eyes narrowed, mouth closed.

Nightmare unleashed another series of attacks, all of which were blocked. The ebony and crimson fox jumped up into the air, forming a large ball of fire in his hand. Sabina looked up at him. Her facial expressions didn't change. The ball changed from fire to a different type of energy.

"Here!" he yelled. "A gift from hell!" The ebony and crimson fox threw the massive ball of energy. Sabina narrowed her eyes a little more. With a jump, she sailed straight up into the air, letting the ball of energy impact the ground. The blue aura surrounding her body got thicker and larger as she came to a stop, hovering around fifty feet above the ground.

Down on the ground, Tails, Cream, and Vanilla ran over to the fallen cat, who was taking his last breaths.

"Oh no," said Tails, assessing the damage. The cat smiled weakly.

"I'm too old anyway," he said, looking up at the fight above. A loud bang caused everyone else to look up. There was a black blur surrounding the blue aura, which seemed to be turning. "Wow," said Bergan, his eyes starting to close.

"What?" asked Cream, moving closer to Tails.

"She fights…like a Judge." Bergan shook once, his back arching. He settled on the ground, dead. Cream started crying, hugging Tails. The young fox seemed surprised and slightly annoyed by this, but hugged her back. Vanilla offered a comforting hand, as surprised as Tails was, and perhaps even more confused.

Sabina swung her sword, blocking a blow from the fox that had killed Darius. With a fluid motion, she grabbed him by his face and threw him to the ground. She followed, her sword point down. Less than two seconds after he impacted the ground, she came down on him. However, Nightmare had already managed to roll out of the way and stood up. She landed, flexing her knees to take the blow. By the time she stood up, he was already trying to slice her in half. She blocked his blow, throwing her body's weight into a spin kick that connected hard with Nightmare's face. He jumped back several feet, pain starting to pulse through his face.

"What the hell are you?" he asked, holding his sword in front of him, ready to defend himself if needed. Sabina's sword was at her side. She looked even more angry than she had been before.

"Me?" she asked. "I'm a fox." Her voice was full of hate, yet it was controlled. It was all cold anger.

"Idiot. What are you fighting for? It's not your life. Is it…it's that other fox, isn't it? The one I killed," said Nightmare, starting to circle. His words struck the snow-white fox deeply. The pain on her face was obvious. She looked like she might go to tears. "It is, isn't it?" he asked, smiling. He knew this would cause her to lose control. "You actually liked…no. You loved him. You loved him…idiot." Now, he was trying to rub it in. She was coming closer to breaking. "Why bother? He didn't love you. He didn't care about you at all. You were just another fox."

Sabina fell to her knees, tears flooding her vision. His words struck her, piercing her heart. Her anger was turning to pain. Nightmare took advantage of this, running forward. Sabina managed to deflect his first blow, though only barely. His second swing nicked her, drawing blood on her left shoulder. The snow white fox gasped, the pain shooting into her brain. Nightmare swung again, knocking her sword out of her hands. With a kick that followed the swing, he sent her flying into a wall.

"Do you see?" asked Nightmare, gloating. He started playing with his sword, spinning it around while Sabina tried to stand up. The fact that she couldn't only added to her emotional pain. "Your just a confused girl, a love-sick fox. You fell in love with a pathetic excuse of a fox, who got himself killed by his own anger and hate. Face it, Sabina. Your fighting for nothing." Nightmare started to walk to her, but suddenly broke into an all out run.

Sabina sat on the ground, tears flowing from her eyes. The cut on her arm hurt, but it was almost invisible compared to the cuts in her heart. Everything that Nightmare had said…was it true?

"Did he love me?" she asked herself, watching tears fall to the ground. Had Darius cared at all?

The blue aura around her body suddenly seemed to creep into her. It was comforting her. The cut on her arm stopped bleeding. Deep in her heart, a soothing sensations spread. Sabina's jaw dropped. She knew that it was Darius. He was dead, but he hadn't left her. All her emotions boiled over into anger. Every nerve in her body lit up. It felt like she was on fire.

Just as Nightmare brought his sword down, Sabina stood up, moving out of the path of the blade. She lunged forward, her right fist out. Nightmare saw this, but had no time to react. Just before her fist slammed into his face, a huge amount of energy formed in front of her fist.

When her fist slammed into her face, all the energy ignited. Nightmare's brain was flooded with pain. It felt like he had been hit with a train. His momentum caused him to continue moving forward, but the impact from Sabina's fist made him do several back flips before he landed in the rubble of a wall.

Sabina stood straight up, turning around. Her mind was now free of all but one though: kill Nightmare.

Nightmare moaned. His head was spinning. He forced himself to stand up, shaking his head. His eyes met Sabina's almost as soon as he stood up. She hadn't moved from the stop where she had hit him.

"Bitch. I'm going to cut your fucking head off," he said, just loud enough that she could hear it. She didn't react to his threat. The snow-white fox vanished from sight. Nightmare froze when he realized what had just happened. He jerked his head from side to side, looking. An incredibly powerful impact in the back of his head confirmed his fear.

Sabina was using magic, and she was damn good. Nightmare stood up, spinning around. He did NOT want to deal with an invisible fox. Out of the blue, something hit him in the chest. He flew into a wall. Nightmare started to pull himself off the wall, but something was pulling him into it. At first, it wasn't strong, but it suddenly multiplied into an incredible force. He yelled as he was pulled though the wall.

Nightmare jumped up, holding his sword. Fear was running though him, causing his senses to become even sharper than usual. He turned his head at the sound of footsteps. The snow-white fox was standing on the other side of the room. The blue aura around her body was letting off huge amounts of energy. Everything was blowing away from the spot where she stood.

Something sparked inside of him. It suddenly occurred to him where he was. Now that he was back inside, he was stronger. And he was especially strong is this particular room.

Ridora's Cataract Coliseum was one of the best-looking ruins in Nabdrodeisiea. It was easily the most evil. When Nabdrodeisiea had been in it's prime, bloody battles and executions were held here on a regular basis. The spirits of those that had died here had never left. Nightmare could use the energy of these spirits to his advantage. He summoned up all the sprits, drawing off of their pain and misery.

Nightmare smiled evilly as his powers grew. The thousands of spirits that were in this coliseum provided more power than he though he would need. However, he took it all. Power was his friend.

"Tell me, Sabina. Do you really think that you can beat me?" he asked, relishing the feel of the power flowing though his veins. He was sure that he was going to be able to win with east. Sabina didn't answer. Instead, the snow-white fox smiled. Darius felt a trickle of fear. He knew that she knew what he was doing. Why wasn't she scarred?

Darius put his hands in front of his, summoning up the energy of the spirits. He smiled again, trying to inspire some fear in the snow-white fox. Dark energy started to build up around his hands. With it, he was sure that she would be easily destroyable. He blinked his eyes. Sabina had vanished. He turned around, launching the wave of dark energy. He was sure that he had hit the snow-white fox.

A blinding white light filled the room. Nightmare's eyes took a second to adjust. The dark energy that he had launched was pressing against something. A huge amount of blue energy was pressing against it. Sabina was on the other side.

Nightmare jumped back, freaked out. He could have swore that he had seen Darius where Sabina was standing. But only for a second. Now, the snow-white fox could be seen, the blue aura surrounding her. Nightmare launched a wave of powerful attacks. However, every one of them seemed to result in a bright flash of light. He started to panic. His new strength wasn't helping him any.

Above him, something started to crackle. He looked up. High in the air, Sabina was hovering. The aura had gone from blue to white.

"What tha…"

"ARK BLAST!!"

Three huge branches of light shoot out of the aura surrounding the snow-white fox, one out in front of her, and two behind, all the same distance from each other. Each of the three branches split off into two more. Traveling incredibly fast, the snaked around the area, flying past him several times. Suddenly, all six branches hit him, engulfing him in light, one after the other, with the flow continuing. The beams continued out before bending back in and converging above him. The six beams became one. The energy balled up for a second before slamming down.

High above, Sabina rose even higher into the air. The three main beams emitting from her started to twist around each other. They kept squeezing and squeezing. After a few seconds, all of the energy flow from Sabina cut off. The beams jerked down around Nightmare's body.

"Die," whispered Sabina. The energy ignited.

Outside the stadium, Sonic and Shadow were nose to nose. Out of the blue, something had sparked between them. Amy had tried to get in-between the two, but had been shoved out of the way by Sonic.

"Damnit! That's enough! Stop this!" yelled Knuckles, pushing the two away. He turned his head to Sonic just in time to see the punch from the blue hedgehog coming at him. It hit the red echidna square in the face. Knuckles let go of Shadow, using the hand he had been using push Shadow away to punch Sonic in the stomach. Sonic doubled over from the force of the blow. Knuckles let go of the blue hedgehog, allowing him to fall to the ground. Shadow just looked at Sonic. Knuckles turned to Shadow. "Don't even think about it," said the red echidna.

"Excuse me?" said Shadow, balling up his right hand into a fist. "I don't take orders." The ebony and crimson hedgehog punched the red echidna in the chin. Then, he turned to Sonic. Just as he got ready to kick the blue hedgehog, Amy got in front of him, her arms outstretched. Shadow's face twisted into shock. "Your defending him!?" "Don't do it, Shadow," she said, looking him in the eyes.

"You still love him," said Shadow, the anger in him boiling over. "You still love that faker!!"

"No I don't!" yelled Amy, advancing on Shadow. She took three steps before she felt a sharp pain in her ankle. She screamed, falling to the ground. Sonic had bitten her. Shadow stepped over Amy, kicking Sonic in the jaw. The blue hedgehog did a back flip.

Tails watched this in horror. Cream was shaking in his arms, freaked out. The young fox's sharp hearing picked up an odd sound. He turned his head to the huge building to his left. Above, Sabina was hovering in the air, surrounded by a bright, white aura, which had three thick beams coming out of hit. He saw her lips move.

Tails though his ears were going to burst. The air pressure suddenly skyrocketed. The feeling lasted for less than a second. It was replaced by a loud roar. Then, the concussion wave hit, sending him, Cream and Vanilla into a wall. The young fox had no idea what was happening. Not thinking, he pulled Cream closer to him.

Nightmare's death screams were not heard by anyone. The explosion was too loud. The fox had been crushed to the size of a raindrop, the jerked out to the size of the coliseum. His body was destroyed. The entire coliseum had been leveled. The surrounding building took a huge amount of damage.

High above the ground, Sabina smiled weakly. She felt herself start to fall. The snow-white fox drifted out of where the coliseum once was, landing on the ground not to far from Tails. She landed on he knees, tears in her eyes. The aura had left her body. The feeling of Darius's presence was gone. She passed out, crying.

Tails stood up slowly, not wanting to wake Cream. He was surrounded by several large pieces of stone. The building was gone. Shadow was helping Sonic up. Amy was standing beside the two, scratching her head. Knuckles soon emerged from under the rubble a little ways away. Tails breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever had gotten into them had left.

It was only now that Tails noticed Sabina, lying on the ground. She wasn't moving. The young fox left Cream and ran over to the snow-white fox. Amy noticed his movement, noticing Sabina shortly after. She left Sonic and Shadow, running over to the snow-white fox.

"Is she dead?" asked Amy, coming to a stop.

"No," said Tails, his fingers on Sabina's neck. "She's still breathing. I think she just passed out."

"Ok," said Amy, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Umm…guys?" yelled Sonic. Everyone turned and looked at him. "Now what?"


	24. Chapter 24

Judgment Chapter 24

7 days later

(Sabina's point of view)

Yesterday, we buried Darius. Well…his coffin. I was so exhausted after the fight with Nightmare, I passed out. I woke up five days after the fight in the hospital. Tails was there, waiting for me to wake up. He took me to Amy's house. I fell asleep there, not knowing what was going on.

The next day, Tails took me out to a small hill a few minutes from Amy's house. There was a single coffin, but Darius wasn't in it. They had been unable to find his body in all the ruble that came from the coliseum's explosion. All we had to put in the coffin was a coat of his. I don't think I've ever cried so much in my life.

No one wanted to leave the grave after it was sealed. They tried to make me go back to the house to rest, but I wouldn't. Sonic and Knuckles finally carried me back. I was to tired and upset to resist.

Other than Tails, I don't think anyone knew how much I liked Darius. They seemed a little surprised by my pain, though did what they could to comfort me. They finally led me up to the room in Amy's house where I'd been staying.

I haven't come out since then. I haven't needed to. I'm not hungry or thirsty. Or maybe I just can't tell. But who cares?

The bedroom actually has its own bathroom complete with a shower. It's comfortable…I guess. I think I would rather sleep on the hard rocks in Amy's back yard if it meant that Darius was still alive.

Amy and Shadow are probably going to get married soon. It seems like they need to be together. So do Knuckles and Rouge. Speaking of those two, Rouge thinks she's pregnant. She is ecstatic, though Knuckles doesn't seem sure about the whole thing. At least, that's what Amy told me the last time I talked to her a few hours ago. She seems to be keeping everyone away from me for the time being, though I'm sure that it's either Shadow or Tails' idea. They're afraid I'll snap and kill someone. To be honest, it's tempting. If it means feeling the way I did during the fight, then it might be worth it.

Amy tells me that Cream's been staying much closer to Tails that she has in the past. Tails doesn't seem to mind much, though he's not exactly embracing the idea of love right now. I hope those two do get together. I would hate to see Tails be the last of the two-tailed foxes. I'm sure he's going to outlive me by several years.

I haven't heard much about Sonic. Apparently, he's left for a while to go get the Chaos Emeralds back. Knuckles and Shadow went with him. Amy made Rouge stay at the house for a while. Rebuilding isn't that important at the moment.

I never got to know Bergan, not that I care. The only reason that I'm curious is because Tails told me that the last words from the cat's mouth were something about me fighting like a Judge. Tails did some research, but came up mostly empty. The only thing that he found was that the Judges were a group of elite warriors who killed their king for some reason. There was nothing else on them. It still doesn't make much sense to me.

Nor does Nightmare. I'm still not sure what he was. He looked so much like Darius, and fought just like him. I just wish I knew more.

It's almost midnight now. The moon is beautiful tonight, and the stars are unusually bright. The beach is abandoned like it normally is. Even though I saw him die with my own eyes, I still look out onto the beach, hoping to see Darius walking around, or lying in the water. But he's never there, nor will he ever be again.

Right now, I wish I were dead.

The next day

(No longer Sabina's point of view)

Amy opened her eyes, lying alone in her bed. Shadow still hadn't come back from that hellhole. But it probably wouldn't be long before he did, a couple of days at the most. The pink hedgehog yawned, getting out of bed and stretching.

On her way downstairs, she walked by Sabina's door. The sound of the shower running came as a relief to Amy. She was scared that Sabina might try killing herself. The snow-white fox was torn up pretty badly over Darius. Amy knew that she would be the same way if it were Shadow, probably more so than Sabina was. The snow-white fox was probably hiding most of the pain she felt.

Downstairs, Tails and Cream were still asleep. The young rabbit's head was on Tails' chest, though the young fox probably hadn't let her fall asleep like that. Amy was slightly surprised that Cream wasn't freaking out about this. Then again, they weren't very old yet.

In the kitchen, Vanilla and Rouge were talking about pregnancy while Vanilla cooked. The bat was thrilled at the idea of being pregnant, though Vanilla seemed nervous about it. However, the older rabbit was happy to share what she knew.

Cleaning up what had been Tails' house hadn't taken as long as they had though it would. The fire had destroyed everything, leaving nothing bigger than a chair in tact. The garage, which was made of an unusual type of steel, had been closed off at the time of the fire, and had been unharmed. From what Tails had explained to everyone that the alloy he had used only melts under a certain type of heat. No one had seemed to understand much else, other than Shadow. Sabina had been in the hospital resting at the time.

Though no one would admit it in front of Sabina, Tails had said that he expected Darius to show up at any moment as if nothing had ever happened. The young fox said that killing Darius was much harder than it looked. The idea wasn't taken to warmly. Amy personally though that it was wrong to inspire the hope that the impossible would happen. However, she privately hopped that Tails was right. But it HAD been a week now, and there was no sign of either of the ebony and crimson foxes. No one ever wanted to see Nightmare again. After what Sabina had done to him, it seemed unlikely that they ever would.

Unknown to Sabina, Tails had found some more information on the Judges. Sabina had been asleep at the time, and Amy didn't want to wake her up. Details were somewhat sketchy, but it gave a much better idea than what Tails had found originally.

Sabina felt her eyes fill with tears again. She was sitting in the shower with her back pressed up against one of the walls of the house. Her arms were wrapped around her knees, which were pulled up against her chest as a result. Her two tails were wrapped around her feet. Clutched tightly in her right hand was a small, red stone that Darius had left in her backpack. She had been surprised when she found the backpack where she had dropped it.

The small red stone was some kind of emerald, though she had no idea what type. It didn't look like it was natural, though it could have been. She guessed he had either found or made it when they were in the caves. She hadn't seen it before then.

It was the only thing of his that she had kept, other than her memories. She didn't know that his trench coat had been in the coffin until after it was buried. At her request, Knuckles had put a thin layer of diamond around the coffin to keep it from ever weathering.

She started crying again, squeezing the stone as tightly as she could. Amy didn't know it, but Tails had came to her and told her that he thought that Darius would probably show up in a few days. As he said it, he was cowering as if he was going to get hurt. However, the idea didn't anger Sabina at all. It just upset her again. She had been hoping the same thing would happen. To his surprise, she gave Tails a hug and told him that she agreed. The young fox was wise beyond his years.

The snow-white fox spun her head when she felt a hand placed on her shoulder. However, there was nothing there but the warm water, which was raining down on her.

"Great," she said to herself, sniffling as she did so. "Now I'm hallucinating." As she said it, she felt the stone in her hand get warmer. It was as if Darius was there, comforting her.

Turning off the shower, the snow-white fox walked over to the window in the bathroom, drying her of with a towel. Outside, the sun was rising lazily across the water. Putting her clothes on, she walked downstairs.

From the kitchen, Amy heard Sabina walk down the stairs and out onto the porch. The pink hedgehog followed the fox, walking up beside her.

"Last night, after you fell asleep, Tails found some more information on the Judges. Almost a thousand years ago, they were the main warriors of some country. It was their job to carry out the king's orders. They were the commanders of the army, and the most elite warriors. They were all capable of using various kinds of magic, though a few were extremely gifted in them. I think Tails said that the best were named…I think he pronounced it Zodiark, and another one who's name wasn't listed. Zodiark was the head Judge, the commander of the other 11. Tails thinks that Bergan, that cat that fought with us, was also a Judge. Apparently, they were legends on the battlefield. They never lost. Also, they were peace lovers, not war freaks. They only fought to keep the peace, until the king that they killed took power. The website said that they only killed the king to stop a pointless war." Sabina's face hadn't changed. The fox still looked upset. Amy decided to tell he what Tails had said. "Ya know, Tails said that he though that Darius would come back soon. I didn't want to tell you because it would upset you," said the pink hedgehog, looking out over the water.

"I know," was the reply.

"What do you think?" asked Amy, turning her head to Sabina. The fox was smiling peacefully, looking out over the ocean, leaning against the railing. She closed her eyes.

"I don't think," she said, opening her eyes and looking at Amy. "I know."

"What do mean?" asked the pink hedgehog, cocking her head.

"He'll be back."

A-part End.


End file.
